I'm Better Off Alone
by Kari Hibaki
Summary: Gaara meets Kari & he could tell she was trouble. She's hiding something dangerous, but, isn't everyone? Their fates begin to cross as his secretary, Trinity, befriends her. What's Kari hiding? Is it as dangerous as the secrets Gaara & Trinity are hiding?
1. Prolouge

**I don't own Naruto.**

**I do own Kari Hibaki.**

"**talking" **

'**thinking'**

_Prologue_

_The night had a slight chill to it. About as cold as it got in the desert. It was dark and a sandstorm was dying down. _

_As the sandstorm through out the desert lifted the jounin could barely make out a small child wearing robes that covered the child's face. As the child made it to the entrance one ninja stopped her. _

_"Why are you here?" the jounin asked. _

_"I would like to move here to live." She Said;The Ninja could tell their voice was a girl. _

_"Where are your parents? What is your name? What village are you from?" _

_"My Parents…are dead. We were travelers. And my name is Kari…Kari Hibaki." _

_Then she lifted the robes from her face and all the jounin made out was a girl with long black hair that looked about 8. _

**Mhmmm. I have wanted to start this for a while. **

**If you have ever read my full metal alchemist story well...**

**I'm editing chapter one.**

**Too make it sound better.**


	2. Stalker Much?

**Chapter 1**

**Stalker Much?**

"Kari! Oh come on. I want you to meet my brother." Temari whined and Kari sighed.

"Why Temari?... I know he's the kazekage and all, and I guess I respect him... but hes creepy. I just don't really want to be friends with him." Kari spoke slowly, and shrugged.

"He's not that bad. Just come on, he's really cool." Temari smiled.

"You just like him because he gives you his extra cash." Kari mumbled and Temari laughed.

"But, I share it with you!" She grinned.

"Fine, I'll do it to." Kari sighed, defeated. She actually was kind of interested in the kazekage, he was intriguing and she really wanted to know what was so special about him.

They entered the office where Gaara worked and strolled past some secretary's waving hello to Temari.

"You know, if you just we're a little more friendly, you would actually have friends."  
Temari scolded Kari.

"I don't want to make friends with annoying secretaries." Kari said in her flat tone after rolling her eyes.

Temari just sighed as they entered Gaara's office.

"Yeah?" Gaara questioned, as he wrote something down. Most likely paperwork.

"Gaara. You know Kari right?" Temari responded and he glanced up at her.

He looked at her and thought about it for a second, there was plenty of villagers so it was hard to remember them all.

'She's a ninja... I actually don't know much about her. Looks about my age...' He thought to himself.

"Hmmm, You're a chunin right?" He asked and she nodded.

"Kari…. What is you're last name?" He continued.

"Hibaki." She replied.

"I see... " he mumbled pulling out her file.

"So your not originally from this village hm?" he continued, staring at her suspicously. Kari froze for a second, what was with his look. She didn't like it.

"I have to go." Kari spoke abruptly and she turned and left with a quick pace.

"What the hell was that about?" Gaara frowned. All he did was ask her a question.

"Hmm, I'm not really sure. She's an interesting girl." Temari said staring at the door that Kari had just exited through.

"Why are you so suspicious of her?" She continued.

"I'm not." He replied, but obviously was trying to ignore her.

"Then why did you open her file…" Temari was now beginning to get suspicious of Gaara,

"I just wanted to check her out since she said her name and I don't anything about her…" He shrugged

"Hey and why does Kari only have two pages about her? Everyone else has about 5-6 pages about them." Gaara grumbled flipping through her file.

"See! You are paranoid!" Temari exclaimed.

"Just leave me alone…" He rubbed his temples. He got enough of this from his personal secretary.

"Fine, but just because your kazekage doesn't mean you can boss your big sister around, got it?" She was starting to get irritated by him but she left. Gaara knew better than to irritate his sister but it was hard to deal with his siblings sometimes.

"Track Kari Hibaki, I need to just be sure about her…" He said to some average jounins. He figured that they would be able to handle that since she was only a chunin.

"Yes Kazekage-sama." They replied and were gone.

Turning his attention to the paper work on his desk he spoke to himself.

"I just know she's hiding something…"

OOO

Kari had finally made it to her apartment from Gaara's office.

'I already hate him.' She thought to herself as she made some dinner for herself.

As she sat down and began eating she felt a presence; un-welcomed visitors. Sitting there quiet but alert she kept eating as if she didn't notice it; she didn't want to attack these people for no reason. First she needed to figure out what they were up to. After she finished she grabbed her house keys and headed for the door. Bartending was her second job although she was still only 15. She just had to get a license for it to say that she wouldn't drink the alcohol.

Kari sighed as she headed down the street with the ninja following her. As quick as they may have been, she went from a walking pace to gone, she had taking off running down an alley way. They followed her to the alley to end up at a dead end and her chakra gone.

"Damnit!" One of them cursed, as they headed back to Gaara's office.

OOO

"Well?" Gaara questioned, knowing that something went wrong because of their expressions.

"We're sorry Kazekage–Sama, we lost her." One apologized.

"Please tell me how three jounin lost one chunin." He replied with an irritated tone.

The three ninja's wanted to cringe at him; he may have changed but no one in the village could ever forget the way _he used to be when he was mad_.

"Let's see if I can do any better." He stood up as they gulped a little and he disappeared into sand.

OOO

Kari stood on the roof of her apartment building and stared out in deep thought.

'I wonder… why those ninja's were following me.'

'I am sure I have never done anything suspicious…' her thoughts continued to wonder.

Blinking she was brought back into reality by a presence, someone's chakra was near her. She never was good with following whose chakra was whose but could block her own out pretty well. Although she was starting to improve.

"Who is near me?" She growled, prepared for anything.

Then the person stepped out of the shadows; someone she never expected.

"Kabuto?" Her eyes widened in slight shock and almost fear but she managed to regain her composure.

"Kari… it has been too long." He muttered glancing at with his sly smirk.

"I came here to explain something to you…" He hissed but paused for the fact of new chakra coming to join the conversation, he disappeared.

"What the…?" Kari stared at the place that Kabuto was standing.

"So, who were you talking too?" a voice said.

Kari turned around to meet eyes with the one and only Gaara.

"Nobody." She growled trying to hide her surprise, she had to admit… he was good.

He stared right back at her with his emotionless stare but along with some curiosity.

"Well, you are very suspicious little chunin..." He spoke in a low dark voice. And when she already thought he was too close he became closer to her, their faces about 5 inches apart.

"And I don't like it."

Kari stood firmly in her spot, her glare unchanged.

"Well, doesn't that just suck for you." She smirked with her same attitude. He stepped back sighing.

"So are you going to tell me what your hiding and who you were talking to or am I going to just get someone to babysit you?" Gaara was growing very frustrated by this girl.

Kari snorted.

"Why don't you just send your talented jounins after me." She was still smirking.

"hmph, actually… Maybe I will take that offer instead of sending them." He knew this would throw her off.

"Wait, you?..." She frowned, he almost had her.

"Well it would make sense since everyone else is so pathetic… and can't even keep up with a little chunin like me." She had that smirk upon her face again, and Gaara was really beginning to hate it.

"Maybe you're not just some weak little chunin… I think you are stronger then you look. It's possible that you're here to destroy the village." He glared at her and she began to snort with laughter covering up her mouth to contain it.

"Oh yeah! That's why I moved here. Jeez, thanks for reminding me! I almost forgot." She replied with enthusiastic sarcasm.

"Then what was the reason?" He questioned her, hoping she would finally just say it. And at this, she seemed to loose her confidence.

"Just a change of pace really…" She answered.

"Really, I would think after an 8 year old lost her parents she would do something besides look for a change of pace." He stared at her, not believing her.

"Well… that really isn't any of your business is it?" Her tone became flat and annoyed.

"Why can't you just tell me the real reason and I'll be on my way." He was growing annoyed as well.

"That is the reason." She shrugged.

"You're lying." He responded immediately.

"No I'm not." She spoke looking back at him.

"Then look my straight in the eye and tell me that then." Gaara said.

Kari looked at him with confidence and opened her mouth but nothing came out, she couldn't do it… but it wasn't only because she couldn't lie, looking straight into his eyes she noticed that even through his stress filled eyes and scary expression… there was a need and will to protect something, the village.

He smirked; finally she didn't have something to say back.

"Told you." He spoke, turning from her to leave.

"I don't care. I'm not telling you anything." She grumbled turning to walk the opposite direction to the stairs of the apartment building but Gaara appeared in front of her.

"So there is something hm? I guess I'll have to follow you." He said trying to scare her.

Kari laughed at him, thinking he was kidding.

"wow your funny, so your going to follow me everywhere?" she asked in her humored tone.

"Pretty much." He shrugged.

"Don't you have stuff to do like…paperwork?" She started to get worried, realizing that he wasn't kidding.

"That's why I have secretaries." He would follow her if he had too… although he wasn't originally planning too.

"Y-You can't be serious!" she stuttered a bit, suddenly growing nervous.

"I'm still not going to tell you!" She finished.

"Whatever it takes, I will stay if you refuse to tell me."

Kari couldn't believe him, he was going to become her stalker? She wasn't going to enjoy this, but no matter what,

She wasn't going to tell him anything.

**First chapter yay! **

**Um, how was it?**

**Chapter 2 well come out eventually. **

**Be patient. I update slow.**

**-Torie**


	3. Why Am I So Tired?

**Chapter 2**

**Why am I So Tired?**

OOO

It had been a week, but not just any normal week… a week from hell.

Gaara not only kept his promise but also kept screwing up things for her.

He followed her _everywhere_. Not completely everywhere but you get the point.

She couldn't even go sit on the roof in peace, he stood right there in the shadows

watching her every move. She could even feel him watch her when she slept too…

He knew it drove her crazy. That's why he did it. There were some stupid funny

things Kari did but most the time it was boring. Though it had to be done, along with

all his other Kazekage duties. Not only that but just because he was Gaara didn't

mean he wasn't slightly curious about this chunnin. How interesting the week had been

for him.

So anyway, Kari sat on her bed listening to music with Gaara in her living room.

'When the hell is he going to leave me alone?!' She thought to herself.

And then she remembered the one time she had tried to get away from him.

**Flashback**

_"Gaara, I'm taking a shower." Kari said to him. He had been sitting on the couch staring at the wall. _

"_That's great." He muttered sarcastically not moving as she headed into the bathroom._

_She took her shower and dressed then she headed for the door but before she opened it she paused. _

_She had suddenly remembered a small plan she wanted to try._

_Slowly and quietly she opened her bathroom window and slipped through_

_quickly landing on the ground. _

_Staring up at the window she jumped from she concentrated but felt nobody's chakra._

_A smile of satisfaction spread across her face before she turned and darted down the _

_street. 'Hah' she laughed to herself 'Finally got a- ' but didn't have time to finish her thought before she ran smack into Gaara. _

_She stumbled back a bit trying to keep her balance. _

"_And where are you going?" he asked. She looked at him and laughed nervously._

"_Nowhere" she said regaining her normally cold persona "I just hate the fact that your following me and I wanted to get away for awhile."_

_He sighed, then paused and looked up at her smirking._

_Kari glared back at him with hate in her eyes. 'Just you wait...' she growled to herself _

_before turning and heading back to her apartment followed by the ever-present Gaara._

**End flashback**

She sighed. When was it going to stop?

OOO

Later that day, when she headed for her second job Gaara (of course) came with her.

About when they were halfway there Gaara suddenly blurted out,

"Why are you so damn stubborn?! I can just be on my way if you tell me."

Kari knew he was going to say something eventually

"Yeah, I know but it's not something I want to go telling the world about and especially not you, because it's just for my stupid file."

He opened his mouth to say something else but then he just closed it again and glared off in a different direction.

Not much was said after that

OOO

Nothing was happening in the bar and she just kept at her work.

Later, some ninja's got in a fight; the bar didn't have any certain people to stop this so usually the bartenders that knew how to fight stopped it.

That night Kari was the only bartender that even went to the ninja academy.

But, kicking the drunken guys out wasn't too hard it was what was outside is what surprised her. She stood out there to see Kabuto.

He looked at her and then motioned her to follow, but Gaara was there in an instant.

He blinked and glanced over at Kabuto. "Who's that?" He asked her.

Kari shook her head, "I don't know."

Gaara glanced at her and could not tell if she was lying or not but just ignored it.

"Well, whatever." He answered as Kabuto walked away.

OOO

Another week had passed when Gaara finally gave up.

"That's it. I will find out, but I have stuff that needs to be done." He said to her and then walked away.

Kari grinned to herself. She had won the battle, but not necessarily the war.

As Gaara left he glared at the ground. He hated too lose or give up unless it was stupid.

In his opinion this was stupid, but that girl really bugged him and he hated leaving her with the smug feeling she had.

He soon arrived back at the office and began to do stuff, like catch up on late paperwork.

He sat there scribbling away and after an hour or two someone came in to report something.

"Kazekage-sama, there was a robbery at the Hattori family's household." A ninja quoted.

Gaara frowned; it wasn't like the sand village to have many robberies, and from the Hatori family of all.

The Hatori family was one of the richest family's throughout the whole village and inside the household lived more than 4 jounins so whoever stole stuff had to be strong.

"What was stolen?" He asked.

"An ancient vase that's been in there family for over 400 years." The ninja answered.

Gaara sighed; this person was also smart to know about the Hattori "ancient" vase.

"Well… did you investigate?" Gaara asked.

"Yes, we have found nothing, no trace of anything except how they got into the Hattori household and escaped. They used fire jutsu… but nobody saw the thief."

'They couldn't find anything else?' Gaara thought quietly to himself.

What were they dealing with here? Even Black Ops didn't find anything.

This person seemed strong but then again…the person could just be good at hiding themselves and making sure they didn't leave any trace behind.

But then why did they leave enough clues to figure out they used fire jutsu. It didn't make sense.

After the ninja that reported left Gaara stepped outside and headed home carrying some files of ninja too find everyone who used fire jutsu since he had nothing better to do. Sleep obviously wasn't an option thanks to Shukaku.

OOO

Kari awoke the next morning oddly, still very tired. She rolled over and glanced at the clock 8:00am,

She had to start training by 8:30am.

She groaned and rolled out of bed landing on a mess of clothes on the floor. When she got home she seriously needed to do some laundry.

Stepping outside from her apartment building the sun blazed onto her face and she squinted slightly but headed towards the training grounds.

A lot of normal ninja's would be training with a team but in Kari's case… she didn't have a team. After graduating from the ninja academy 2 years early, 10 year old Kari wasn't placed in a team. The Kazekage at the time could have placed her in a team but he didn't. There could have been many reasons for this but the real reason was that he was alarmed. At the time Kari had only lived there for 2 years and graduating so early meant she was a strong kunoichi. Not many people graduated that early, and also because of the mystery that no one knew anything about her at the time.

So Kari got to the training ground and did her normal warm ups then continued doing everything else.

After she was finished she went back home to shower.

OOO

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

Kankuro's alarm clock was going off. Gaara groaned silently as he took a swig off coffee and glanced at the clock. '7:30 already?' He thought to himself. All night he had gone through files of people who could do fire jutsu and had a few suspects but none of them seemed to fit.

The person had to be fast to get an out of the house quickly, smart to be able to open the safe protecting the vase since the safe was fire-proof, able to do fire jutsu, good at hidding their chakra… just so much to think about at once.

Getting up from his desk he headed out to the kitchen and saw Temari cooking and a groggy Kankuro drinking coffee.

"Morning." Temari said as Gaara snatched a piece of bacon.

"Yo." Was all he said and then headed to shower and change his clothes.

After he was done all he did was go to his office and research almost…all…day.

OOO

After a day of training Kari was exahausted and she crawled into bed at 9 falling asleep instantly.

It was a good thing she didn't have to work at the bar that night.

The night almost passed in an instant, in the blink of an eye it was the next day and Kari awoke to see that she had slept in till 10am.

"Shit!" she cursed jumping out of bed to get dressed and of course she had a mission that day too.

As she was slipping on her shoes she mumbled about actually getting an alarm clock.

Kari rushed to kazekage building grumbling all the way.

OOO

Gaara entered the kazekage building to have people swarming all around him.

He blinked in slight shock but was saved by a secretary. She had faded red hair that was mid-back length, sharp blue eyes, and slightly shorter than him.

"Okay, Move it! The kazekage need to get to his office" She yelled over the rumbles of people and everyone made a path for him.

Gaara headed to his office with the girl. "Thanks Trinity." He grumbled.

She frowned. "What kind of 'thank you' was that?" Trinity sighed then continued

"Well whatever, theres more important things to worry about anyway"

"Like?" he asked with a bored expression.

"Well, that theif striked again." She said with slight aggitation.

He then looked slightly intrested. "Oh really?" he questioned her.

"Well that got your attention" She mused then continued "Theres more information on her that you need to know about." Trinity smiled and held up a thin beige folder

He groaned. "Why do I have to…wait… the thief is a girl?"

She nodded "Theres a slight description of her by a few guys that saw her at her last robbery last night."

He nodded as a response.

"She had a black cloak… and her backside was facing them. By the figure they could tell it was a girl. All they saw was her burn a hole into the household and enter and they ran off like cowards." She told him.

Gaara growled in fustration as he sat at his desk. "Is this village made of idiots?!"

Trinity sat on the desk and rolled her eyes. "Well anyway that was exactly what they said" she continued sitting the folder down on his desk

"Have fun Gaara-sama" She teased before she left.

"Wow this is helpful...case solved." he said sarcastically

Yes, The Kazekage, Gaara was talking to himself.

"What if it was…It's just a thought…Maybe I should put her on the suspect list… But I don't even know if she does fire jutsu… Her file doesn't say that"

He growled and stood up. This wasn't helping anything. He needed to take matters a differen't way.

OOO

Kari was crawling into bed when she heard it. Someone was in her house and she really didn't care. It was 8:24pm but she needed sleep.

"You're going to bed?" a firmilar voice said slowly.

"What of it?"

"Nothing." Gaara came out came out of the shadows.

"Get. Out. Of. My. House. Now." What? She was cranky.

He didn't budge except for looking around.

Then his cell phone rang, he swiftly turned around and answered it in his Gaara way of awnsering the phone.

"What?"

Someone was saying something on the other line.

"Right… Okay… Fine…Bye"

He hung up and turned into nothing but sand.

Kari was quite…confused.

"Why did he? Oh forget it…" and her head hit the pillow.

OOO

'Damn Meetings, damn them to hell.' He thought to himself.

'What about these freaking robberies? We don't need a meeting about chunin exams right now!'

10 minutes later he avrived at the meeting and sat down glaring coldly at anyone in particular.

"Um… Gaara… are you trying to scare everyone away?" Temari muttered to him and he shrugged.

She sighed and the meeting began.

Soon after the meeting was over he started to head to his house. There was paperwork at his office to do and he knew it but he didn't care.

"Gaara!" Someone with a firmilar voice called to him frantically. He glanced over to see it was Trinity.

"Hm?" he was wondering what was wrong now.

"A robbery is happening right now,"She gasped "its the Takahashi family… On the south edge of the village. The thief is there now, we just got told by some onlookers."

He nodded and then headed in the way to the house with her not far behind him.

When they arrived Gaara noticed there were already ninja's in there battling.

Something exploded and some ninja's exited the building but not their target.

Trinity headed into the building and he quickly followed.

After going through the house they ran into her.

"More visitors eh?" she muttered in a dark unrecognizable voice.

Trintiy was at her "Who are you?" she asked.

The girl laughed with a slight hint of evil. "Now, that's a question I haven't been asked tonight" she responded sarcastically.

"You didn't answer the question." Gaara pointed out.

"Hmmm, I didn't see you there." She said as she blocked one of Trinity's punches.

Gaara sighed. This was going nowhere. He started to send his sand at her but she was quick, alittle too quick. She had came up on him fast but his sand blocked her sword easily. Gaara wasn't expecting this, the girl had skill. Though she wouldn't last long,up against both him and Trinity the fight's outcome was was inevitable. If she did try to get away they just needed her idenity, then it would be too easy.

The girl seemed to notice this so she started to back up and she was off. A blast of sand quickly grasped her ankle but the thief slyly made a handsign.

"M_izu doragon no jutsu._" she said and a dragon formed from water came from the ground deteriorating the sand and it's grip on her. Sand that was wet was a lot harder to move around. Plus if he knew she could use water jutsu he would have been more careful. Gaara was gong to have to be more wary of this particular theif; she's crafty

"Shit." He muttered at the fact she was already out of his grasp and trying to leave.

Trinity went after her and attacked with only taijutsu. She was seeing her oponents strengthes and weaknesses. Trying to find a weakness was something Trinity was usually good at. Apparently she was good at punching and kicking too.

A fire jutsu was then sent at Trinity and she blocked with a self created ice technique. The ice went straight the fire at imense and took the girl by surprise. She tried to block but got hit and body slammed to the floor.

The girl got up quickly and was ready to fight but little did she relize her cloak hood had fallen off. This reaveled a girl with red hair which she pulled out from her cloak because it was tucked underneath and red eyes that looked like they could kill.

She grinned. "Oops."

_Errrr... sorry this took so long... I meant to do it sooner... but it was hard to write... FORGIVE ME!_

_I'll write sooner this time. -shifty eyes-_

_-Torie_


	4. Being That Happy is Weird

**Chapter 3 **

**Being That Happy is Weird**

OOO

What had happened? Oddly enough she had woken up on her couch. She could have sworn she fell asleep on her bed. Or could it have been… 

'Fuck!' she cursed to herself. She jumped up then cried out in pain.

That had to be it. He just had to get involved with everything. She looked to see she had cuts and bruises all up and down her arms and legs.

'Why can't he just leave-' but her thoughts were cut off by a voice.

"So you are finally awake..." It was Kabuto.

"Finally, I got you alone without that damned Gaara following you around."

He continued.

"What do you want, Kabuto?" she hissed.

He grinned. "Calm down Kari, I came here to give a message."

"You know, people could be listening. Why would you come and- " but he cut her off.

"If you want it to stop, then just come back. See? You understand, don't you?" He was backing away like was going to leave.

"Wait! How is he…? I have trained to control this! What's going on?!" Kari yelled to him.

"Where would the fun be if I told you that?" and he was gone.

"DAMNIT!" her fist slammed into the wall making a hole.

Kari glanced over to it and paused for a second.

"Now I have to get that fixed…" She growled.

Was the world against her?

OOO

Gaara was doing paperwork… Yes you read right. He was doing paperwork.

"Don't take it out on yourself, Gaara." Trinity comforted him; sensing his distress.

"Well get her tomorrow…" she assured.

It was hard to believe that considering what had happened the night before.

**Flashback**

_The girl got up quickly and was ready to fight but little did she realize her cloak hood had fallen off. The girl's long red hair flowed out of her cloak and she flashed a set red eyes that looked like they could kill._

_She grinned. "Oops."_

"_You aren't from this village…where are you from?" Gaara called out to her._

"_Somewhere…" she shrugged._

"_Gaara..don't let her get you distracted…"Trinity hissed to him and he nodded._

"_This could just be a jutsu." She finished._

_She was right, why hadn't he thought of this? It must be an off day._

"_She's right Gaara, You still don't know anything" The red head mused. _

_Gaara clenched his teeth and glared at her._

_She just smirked._

_This shorter looking teenage girl was very stubborn he noted. Such a cruel smile she had… it reminded him of his demon inside of him._

_With a flick of his wrist a burst of sand lunged at her, anxious to remove her cocky grin but she dodge. He kept at it and almost had her a few times but the girl was quicker than he had anticipated. When she used water jutsu again he was careful and it missed most of his sand. Seconds after the sand had cleared Trinity darted towards the girl. The redhead turned quickly. She knew she'd have to get out of here now...these two weren't a cakewalk and she sensed more ninja approaching. In a split second she used her agility and managed to punch Trinity hard enough to knock her back. This gave the girl enough to look Trinity's way, turn around and head around a corner. Gaara was on her heels in a second but as soon as he was around the corner she was gone._

"_Damn." He cursed. Trinity was back at his side in a moment._

_They tried to feel for her chakra but she was gone. Probably used a jutsu to teleport a little away to hide her body and block her chakra._

**End Flashback**

Gaara sighed.

"Gaara, everyone makes mistakes." Trinity said trying to comfort the distraught Kazekage.

"Kazekage's don't, that's why we run the village." Trinity's attempt didn't seem to affect him at all.

"Well…This will all be over with soon enough, cheer up" She wasn't completely sure what to say, he was always stressed.

"Yeah, but since when was 'cheering up' in my vocabulary."

Trinity sighed. This was futile.

OOO

Trinity had finally finished work for the day and was heading home. She had looked over the reports all day and she still couldn't understand the robberies; they were just so random. She never asked for ransom or anything… it was strange. Maybe she left the village and sold them, but that seemed unlikely. Most of the stuff had more of a sentimental value to them so she probably wouldn't get much. It was like she was targeting well armed houses…like she was testing the skill of our shinobi.

Just as all this was going through her mind, she recognized Kari as she was heading into a local bar. She remembered that Gaara had been tracking her for a bit. He never did tell her why though.

'Wait, a 15 year old going into a bar?' Trinity wondered to herself. It's not like she wasn't allowed to go in, it's just, why would she want to go in there?

Trinity had nothing better to do so she decided to go meet Kari in person. Meeting people was something Trinity had grown a costumed too because working with an anti-social like Gaara meant that a lot of the publicity became her job. Besides, Trinity was always a natural at making friends.  
After entering the bar she finally realized the reason Kari was there.

"Oh, you work here?" Trinity said to her as she walked up to the bar counter.

"Yes…" Kari looked at this girl confused.

"Oh I am sorry, my name is Trinity, I've heard of you through Gaara." Trinity responded smiling.

"I see…" Kari responded.

"It's very nice to finally meet you." Trinity said continuing with a friendly tone and smile.

"Um, yeah… I guess you know Gaara well…?" Kari said because of the fact Trinity hadn't added Gaara's proper suffix '-sama' since, well, he was the Kazekage.

"Well yes, I am his secretary." Kari's eyes widened a very little bit that was almost unnoticed.

"No no! It's not like that, I'm just his friend, and he just can't do paper work!" She added quickly, slightly flustered.

Kari relaxed, "Sorry, I don't think of Gaara like that or you, I just wasn't sure…"

"It's fine, I can see why you thought that way." Trinity resumed to her content, friendly face.

"You're really nice…" Kari said but then jerked a little surprised for what she had said.

"Yes, people say that all the time, I just - "

"Hibaki, get to work and stop the chit chat." Kari's boss had cut Trinity off and then took a look at Trinity. Kari glared at the back of his head.

"I'm sorry miss, but I know you're not 21 so you cannot be standing so close to the bar. I wouldn't want people to think I was serving minors liquor." He said to her.

"It's fine, I'll just sit at one of the tables." Trinity replied politely to him, nodded at Kari as a goodbye and went to sit down.

OOO

Kari stretched, finally her shift was over and the bar was closing. Then she noticed something, that Trinity girl was still there. She was reading a book, but what was weirder was, nobody had messed with her all night. Maybe it was the fact she was Gaara's friend, or maybe she was a strong ninja? Whatever it was, Kari walked up to her to tell her it was closing time.

"Ummm, it's closing time." Kari said to her a little unsure if she should disturb her.

"Really? It seems I must've gotten caught up in my book, thank you Kari-san." She responded still with that friendly tone, standing up she looked around.

"Please, call me Kari" Kari mumbled looking at her weirdly because of her always being happy thing. Trinity didn't seem to notice it, or maybe ignoring it.

"Well, I think I may wait for you to finish closing up and we can walk together home." Trinity added.

"You don't have to wait, it's late anyway, and you should get home." Kari was cleaning up.

"I want to wait."

And that's what she did, 30 minutes later they were both leaving together. They were walking to a certain point and then spitting up to leave to their houses. They were about 5 minutes to this point and Trinity had been making small talk the whole time until Kari finally got the courage to ask something.

"Can I ask you something?" Kari mumbled, unsure if she should ask.

"Go ahead, I love questions." Trinity said sounding somewhat excited.

"Why are you so happy? It's kind of like, an unnatural happiness. You always look at least content with a situation, is this a normal thing for you?"

Trinity stopped, this was weird, and nobody really asked this about her. Why question why someone is happy?

"I don't know why…people are usually happy around happy people. I just like it when other people are happy." She explained. Kari thought she saw sadness in Trinity's usual smile.

"Here is where we part, it was very nice talking." Trinity added with same expression.

"Ah yes…thanks." Kari said as Trinity turned waving and Kari watched her leave in slight confusion.

'What a strange girl.' Was all she remembered thinking to herself when she blacked out.

OOO

Oh how Gaara hated mornings, everyone was waking up so he couldn't be alone and it was the time people were the most grouchy and annoying. And worst of all, he hadn't had his coffee break. All night doing this damned paperwork and he still couldn't figure out robbery cases.

"Gaara!" Kankuro flew into the room. Gaara must've had a very unpleasant face because Kankuro looked slightly scared.

"Another robbery last night…" Kankuro gasped. Gaara shot up, accidentally sending his chair across the room.

"Why didn't anyone tell me about this!?!?!"

"Nobody saw what had happened until the morning…" Kankuro mumbled.

"This village…" Gaara rolled his eyes pushed passed his stunned brother to head to the office to deal with this mess.

OOO

Kari woke up on her apartment building roof. She knew what had happened but, the biggest problem was that she didn't know how to stop it.

She then remembered what Kabuto had said, maybe that was the only way.

"I can't give up though." She said gritting her teeth and went back inside. Maybe she could try to think of a plan, or at least see if she had a mission.

It had been a few hours and she didn't get any ideas. Kari decided to take a walk to clear her head. She noticed as she walked down the streets she didn't really know anyone. Everyone in the village ignored her.

'It's not so bad, it's best not to get close to people anyway' she thought.

The villagers didn't treat her like an enemy; they just acted like she didn't exist. Many of the villagers didn't trust her. They had never found her dead parents and so they never believed her story. She guessed the thought she may attack them or something, because 8 year olds attacking a village makes sense.

'Being with Gaara and Trinity made me forget about it for a little while…'

Although as she had been getting older, others her age had begun to notice her and looked like sometime they may say something to her, but no one ever did.

Kari smirked, maybe someday, someone will get the guts.

As that thought crossed her mind, some boy was being shoved her direction.

"What the fuck?" she questioned as she moved back and he fell on the ground.

"Fight her then, since you say you are so strong you could beat her in a fight Ryon!"

Some bitchy sounding white hair girl Kari's age said to the guy named Ryon.

Ryon got up to face Kari but he still cocked his head back towards the girl.

"Fine! But just to prove you wrong, she really isn't even worth my time!"

And that's how it was started.

_Well hi…?_

_It's been awhile, GOMENASAI._

_I'm not promising anything, but I am working on the 4__th__ chapter._

_-Torie_


	5. I Didn't Know So Many People Hated Me!

**Chapter 4 **

**I Didn't Know So Many People Hated Me!**

"Excuse me?" Kari questioned Ryon

"You're going to do_** what**_?" she added with a pissed attitude.

"Pfft, kick your ass. Wanna fight or are you scared?" he said thinking that she would really back off.

"Sure, I'll fight you, and I think you'll be the one who's scared." Kari shared with a cruel smile.

"Hm, well you'll be sorry, I was the best in my year at the ninja academy." He really seemed to think he had the fight in the bag.

"If I do recall, I was in your year, and since you don't remember, I graduated two years early." She responded as they were heading into a deserted part of town.

"Whatever." He rolled his eyes.

Once they found a good spot, Kari scanned the layout for all her possible attack moves. Apparently Ryon wasn't as certain now; three of his friends were waiting with the white haired brat and all of them we're ready to jump in.

Ryon still looked pretty confident in himself though; he actually thought he was going to beat her. He knew she was tough, but just because she graduated early didn't mean she was stronger now.

'She didn't even have a ninja team because the previous Kazekage didn't think she was worthy.' He thought to himself as he pulled out kunai.

Kari saw the kunai, and the fight was on, a sneak attack was not going to happen.

She moved quickly, using intense taijutsu moves that she always used at the beginning of a fight when she didn't know what to expect. He dodged most of the attacks, he seemed to see them every time but wasn't the quickest of ninja.

It was obvious she already had the upper hand of the fight, and he didn't like it. He decided to use one of his ninjutsu.

"_Dendou __haretsu__ raishuu no jutsu_!" he yelled as he completed his hand-signs. Kari froze, holding her defense mode, trying to see what was about to happen.

"Shit." Was all she managed to say before the explosion hit the ground right next to her. It was an electric explosion that sent her flying into a building nearby.

"So, that's how you like to play…" she mumbled as she got up and prepared to get more serious.

Kari did some hand signs for wind jutsu and simply started walking his way smiling, and before he could react, wind exploded against him sending him about 25 feet in the air and slamming him back on the ground.

"You….little…." he stood up and waved off his friends who looked like they were going to get in and help the battle. He seemed to just prepare to try and hit her which Kari thought was weird, he had already tried that. Then she realized something as he barely skimmed her stomach with a punch, he had gathered chakra in his hands. Even though he just barely skimmed her, Kari could still feel the electricity going through her.

"What a weird pain…" she said to him glaring, as the punching and kicking continued as well as her dodging.

"Oh, you like it?" he smirked.

"I have even better stuff than that." He added doing a new hand sign.

"_Dendou kashaku no jutsu_!" and as those words left his mouth Kari screeched in pain as the chakra sent electric searing through her body.

"I call this electric torture for a reason." Ryon said complacently.

"You think… this attack is… so great?" Kari murmured standing up and breaking the electric current with a surge of her own chakra.

"You…broke it?" he looked surprised.

Kari was pissed; this fight was taking way too much time. She had better things to do.

"_Touketsu mizu kasui!_" she said completing her hand signs to her water jutsu. Water was hard to manifest in the desert but she figured this guy deserved the attack. After the water was formed, it froze into spikes and went flying at him.

Ryon's eyes widened as he dodged all of them but two that pierced through his right shoulder and left leg. He couldn't even believe she could do that, a water attack in the desert? That took immense amounts of chakra.

"You can use… both of you're…" he was trying to stand up when Kari noticed one of his friends had been missing.

"Yes I use wind and water ninjutsu." She rolled her eyes backing up, she was going to leave.

"She attacked him!" the white haired girl screeched pointing her finger at Kari as an older ninja came into the area. The older ninja sighed and nodded.

"Kari… Ryon… come with me to the Kazekage office…" the older ninja said.

OOO

Ryon had been helped by his friends to the office and was sitting down the hall while Kari was being questioned by a few jounin.

"I told you! He wanted to fight me, now I have to go to work so let me out of here." She growled.

"Even if we did believe you… the circumstance you both were in match what she said…" one of them said.

"It's not my fault he's weak!" she said with spite in her voice.

"Look Kari, you know what the village thinks of you, you can't go off and do this kind of stuff…Not everyone considers you a normal ninja…" another one added.

"I am just like everyone else, just because I don't have any parents and no one knows my background doesn't make me different. People just need to keep in their own god damned business." Kari responded.

"Kari, people are just cautious… I mean you should know-"

"What's going on? I just healed Ryon from some pretty nasty wounds." Trinity cut off the ninja unknowingly, she was a medic nin as well as Gaara's secretary. One of the ninja's got up to talk to her privately about the situation.

"Apparently, that girl attack Ryon. She states that he wanted to fight her but Amaya told us something different." he stated. Trinity sighed.

"Please treat all younger ninja the same, I understand everyone has trust issues with this particular girl but I wouldn't trust Amaya either." She said in a slight bitter tone, although still polite. Kari guessed that Trinity didn't like Amaya very much.

"I… yes ma'am." He responded.

"I also know that Ryon picks fights with a lot of people. So he's not exactly innocent either, anyway, me and Gaara-sama will be taking over this matter." Trinity added and walked over to Kari.

"Kari, please come with me." She said sympathetically and they headed into Gaara's office.

OOO

Gaara was just starring aimlessly out the window, Trinity was going to be here soon and he hadn't done any paperwork but he just didn't feel like it.

"Gaara! Have you done anything?!" it was like she knew her cue.

"Nope." he said until he noticed the person with her.

"Kari?" he questioned.

"I swear Gaara! This is why we always have to rush everything." Trinity said while organizing his desk.

"Meh, you always do it anyway." He said bored.

"What if I wasn't here?" she rolled her eyes.

"Well…" and he started.

"Anyway, Gaara, can you get her out of trouble?" Trinity asked motioning Kari to sit down.

"What happened?" he asked raising his eyebrow and drinking some of his coffee.

"I well… just know it wasn't her fault." Trinity smiled and Gaara looked at Kari expecting an explanation.

"Uhh... well, Ryon wanted to fight, we fought, I won, and his bitch went and got people against me." Kari said.

"That's Amaya for you; I am not too fond of her." Trinity said resentfully. For some reason Amaya sounded familiar to Kari but she didn't say anything.

"That's a first…" Gaara said looking Trinity and she just shrugged.

"Anyway, I don't know who to believe, but since Trinity asked me to do this, you'll be off the hook, just don't do anymore stupid things." Gaara added and Kari shot up.

"It wasn't stupid! What was I supposed to do, walk away?" she yelled.

"Yeah."

"Well, _Gaara-sama_, not everyone has body guards like you." She said crossing her arms and adding a vicious sarcasm to the word '–sama'.

"Don't call me that, and I don't need body guards."

"Well _Gaara-sama, _they were going to go after me anyway."

"It's your fault for making yourself so unlikable and I said stop calling me that." He twitched.

"Excuse me! I didn't know so many people hated me." She swiftly turned away and started to leave.

"Well, you do keep a lot of things secret!" he had started to raise his voice and the door slammed shut.

"Gaara! That wasn't very nice. She does have feelings, you know." Trinity said walking over next to him.

"I don't care… she makes me mad." He glared at the door.

"You still didn't have to go and act like such a child…" Trinity shook her head. "You can be so immature sometimes."

"….." Gaara glared at her.

OOO

Kari had left Gaara's office in an extreme fury, she jumped out of a window to avoid everyone but one person still followed her.

"Hey! Umm, Kari!" someone yelled her way and she stopped, the voice sounded friendly enough.

"Yeah?" she questioned and saw a brown haired guy catching up to her. He looked familiar, but Kari wasn't great at remembering people.

"Sorry, I overheard you and Gaara…he's not always like that, I want to apologize for him. I'm his brother, Kankuro." He said a little flustered.

"No, it's whatever." she said. But now she remembered him, she met him through Temari once.

"Yeah, so do you want a walk home? I don't mind." Kankuro said smiling.

"Well, I'm actually going to work…" she corrected, looking around a little.

"Then to work?" He smirked.

"Yeah… sure…" she said slightly shy.

OOO

Kankuro entered the house feeling pretty damn good, he headed to his room passing Gaara sitting in the living room reading something.

"Why are you so cheerful?" Gaara questioned him suspiciously as he kept reading.

"Am I not allowed to be happy?" Kankuro raised his eyebrow.

"Not this happy…you're only like this once in awhile." Gaara added.

"I walked a girl to work." Kankuro explained.

"Oh, wonderful. I am so happy." Gaara said sarcastically as he got up to head to his room.

"Kari Hibaki…" Kankuro mumbled as he fell onto the couch smiling.

"Wait, who did you walk to work?" Gaara asked his eyes locking on his brother.

"Kari, the one you were arguing with, why do you care?" Kankuro spoke pretty quickly.

"I don't care; I just wanted to know if you learned anything new from her …uh, for her file." Gaara responded twitching.

"You know Gaara, not everything should be about your job!" Kankuro rose his voice as he went to stand up.

"Kari is a cute girl and she is very nice if you get over her temper… you shouldn't be so rude to her!"

"I -" but Gaara started but he was cut off by Temari.

"What are you guys talking about?" she asked as she came walking in.

"Kari." Kankuro answered.

"Oh, well… I need to hang out with her sometime… and I could hear you guys arguing outside, go to bed." Temari said.

"We don't-" Kankuro started to say but his eyes widened at the look she was giving them and he left. Gaara rolled his eyes and dissolved into sand.

"I swear, those two are ridiculous." Temari mumbled to herself.

OOO

Gaara was standing on the roof of someone's house thinking about what he had said to Kari, was it really that mean? He did feel kind of bad about it.

Then he saw Kari leaving her job at the bar, he couldn't believe bar's let 15 year olds work there.

He sighed annoyed as he saw her walk up the road.

_Hehehe, I told you it wouldn't be too long!_

_Yup, now I know what is happening in the next chapter, it's just the one after I have to get more ideas for. O.O_

_bye bye! :D_

_-Torie_

_P.S. I send thanks to my editor Sarra! Yes, I have someone edit my chapters or they would sound very… repeated and with no contractions. Hahaha._


	6. Everything Makes Sense Now

Chapter 5

Everything Makes Sense Now…

Kari left the bar that night and she was tired, not just tired, she was exhausted. Between the fight with Ryon, arguing with Gaara, working and her own other issues… she just couldn't take it. She had been using a ton of chakra these days and even though she had more than a normal individual, it was taking a little bit of a toll on her.

Once she got home, she crawled in to bed, the next morning she had a ninja mission, which of course, she was going to go on alone.

The next morning she woke up to her alarm clock screeching in her ear, she reluctantly got ready and headed to the Kazekage's office.

As she entered Gaara looked up and was almost surprised she was actually here but then he remembered that she was going to go on a mission.

Neither of them said any kind of greeting as Gaara just opened up the file to read to her.

'I wish Trinity was here to deal with this... I wonder if she's still mad.' Gaara thought to himself. Unfortunately for him Trinity was working at the hospital today.

"Okay… you need to head east until you are out of the desert, head into the forest and find a few Mist ninja's who are bringing us some supplies…. and they also tend to get lost." Gaara said.

"Yes, Gaara-_sama_" Kari said in a sarcastic tone with a fake smile.

Gaara glared as she turned and left the room. Yeah, she was still mad.

OOO

As she headed across the sand in the blazing heat she felt comfortable, she was alone, and she enjoyed the heat. Although if it got dark before she got back it would be colder.

As she headed across the desert, she was listening to her iPod. Not the safest method, but it helped pass time and once she got out of the desert she would put the iPod away.

It was about a 5 hour walk, sometimes more if her pace slowed down at all. But, her pace didn't slow down and she arrived to the forest area. As she took off her headphones, her guard instantly went up.

'I should probably feel for chakra, but… I don't know these people so I am going to block my chakra.' She thought to herself as she started to follow their trail. It wasn't hard to find since they weren't hiding.

When she finally spotted them, she hid in the trees and looked them over. They were Mist ninja alright, with a big cart of supplies just like the description said. Five of them were there, two to control the cart and three to protect them from rouge ninja.

Kari jumped down to them and looked them up and down carefully, put on a fake smile and said,

"Hi I'm Kari and I'll be the sand ninja leading you to the village."

Something seemed a little odd with these ninja but it didn't seem too suspicious.

"There is only one of you?" One of the Mist ninja exclaimed looking surprised.

"I work alone." Kari explained simply. She turned away, and then continued.

"Now let's go, it's not best to be walking when it's dark."

They all agreed and headed towards the desert with her.

OOO

Gaara wasn't doing anything interesting; it was one of the bad points to being the Kazekage. Going on missions was kind of rare; he had to deal with a lot of bitching people, and so much _paperwork_.

'Times like this make me wish I could just sleep.' he thought to himself as a ninja entered.

"Kazekage-sama we got this message… you need to come look at this.'

Gaara entered the room and the waiting decoder gestured to the scroll waiting for him on the table. It was from the Mist village, and looked to be very important.

_Message:_

_Dear Kazekage-sama, _

_We regret to inform you that the ninja we sent out with supplies have been attacked. We were told by only the surviving ninja that the attack was caused by Sound ninja. We are not sure why the Sound ninja attacked but whatever the reason we must ask that you do not send out any ninja to the area as planned. Unfortunately we must arrange for the promised supplies to be transported at a later time as a precaution for both villages. We fear that Sounds attack may lead to more damaging events._

"Shit." Gaara muttered as someone behind him questioned,

"You sent Kari Hibaki, didn't you?"

Gaara nodded as the few ninja looked at each other contemplating something together silently.

"Well… she's strong, and it's just one ninja… she's nothing important, maybe it's best to just leave her…" another one said. Gaara turned and glared at them coldly.

"What?" he asked with venom in his voice.

"We j-just… figured…" One stammered.

"None of you make the decisions around here and if I want you opinion I'll ask for it. If there is a problem we need to inform her of it like we would any other team." Gaara explained vehemently.

"W-We're… sorry…." The ninja stammered.

"By the way, did anyone consider that she may just be a decoy so that they can get in the village? Possibly at this moment she could be leading them here unknowingly…" He added.

"W-What should we do…?"

"I'll take care of it." A voice volunteered.

Everyone turned to see Trinity smiling slightly.

OOO

There was about an hour left until they were going to arrive to the village. Kari hated the fact that they were behind her and kept on her guard the whole time

She realized it about 2 seconds before it happened. As the sudden boom of chakra flew at her she jumped quickly to dodge but she still got hit by some of the ninjutsu.

"What the hell?!" Kari shouted as she turned to them. Then she thought about the attack that had just hit her, that was no mist village attack.

"That… was a sound attack…" she realized out loud.

"Indeed Kari, very good, then again, you of all people would know." One of the ninja said as she ripped off her disguise.

"Come with us Kari, or we will have to take you by force. And we wouldn't want to have to do that." She said smoothly.

"No, forget it. I like my life the way it is now." Kari protested, and suddenly another one of them was right next to her stroking her face.

"Or maybe, _she_ would just comply and come with us." He hissed.

"_Don't, touch me._" Kari growled as she slammed his arm away from her.

"I will never listen to you and neither would she." She seethed through her clenched teeth.

"Maybe your right…" a sound ninja sighed.

"But most people can find us… very convincing…" one of them said.

'Five to one is not a good number, and these people aren't weak. I'll have to go full out.' Kari thought to herself.

Seconds after this went through her mind her 2 katana's were unsheathed both of them dripping with poison. In another flash she sliced the blades across two of attackers.

"This isn't a killing shot Kari, I thought you'd do better than this…" one of them said looking at his wound.

"Stupid, it's covered in poison." The other ninja sputtered as she fell to the ground. The first ninja choked his eyes widening and followed her to the ground after a couple seconds.

'Three left…' Kari whispered to herself.

The three left obviously knew what Kari was trying to do and sent another wave of sound ninjutsu at her

"_Mizu doragon no jutsu!_" Kari yelled as she completed the hand signs and sent a water dragon at them to block their attack. She took the opportunity to make her escape. She ran as fast as she could with them on her tail.

"_**Tatsumaki!**_**" She yelled; the wind she created sent a tornado at them which turned into a small sand storm to buy more time.**

**This gave her the time to make it to the village.**

**OOO**

Trinity had everything worked out, she got a group of ninjas together and they were about to leave to go find Kari. Trinity hoped nothing had gone wrong.

"Gaara, can you walk with me for a little bit, I want to talk to you." She said as the group prepared to leave the office.

"I suppose." He sighed as they followed after the departing team towards the entrance.

"I'm worried about Kari, something doesn't feel right." Trinity confessed.

"We'll have to see what happens…" Gaara responded.

"Why would the sound ninja want some ordinary supplies from the Mist village?" she half questioned, half stated.

"I don't know. Maybe they are trying to get in to the village?" Gaara answered with a question.

"True, but why now? We don't really have anything they need. We live in a desert for Christ sake; they wouldn't need our land… Nothing is out if the ordinary…" she kept on talking.

"Maybe for… or…" Gaara started and stopped letting her fill in the blanks.

"Stop, nobody would know about that." She froze, her tone uncharacteristically harsh.

"Jeez, just saying." Gaara muttered rolling his eyes.

As they walked past the entrance to the village they noticed something, Kari…crawling into the village clenching her fists.

"Kari!" Trinity gasped.

"T-Trinity…" Kari stuttered and looked up at her.

That's when Trinity saw her and jumped a little. Gaara looked at Trinity then at Kari and his eyes widened. Kari's eyes were a blazing red.

"Your eyes are….red…" Gaara stated in surprise.

Kari let this process and she jumped up but not without stumbling. Leaning onto a building she started to walk away.

"I have to go…" she mumbled.

"Kari, stop, you're hurt." Gaara was next to her

"He's right. I can help you, everything will be fine." Trinity added putting her hand on her shoulder.

"You can't… see me like this…" Kari groaned.

"Its fine Kari... we can help..." Trinity insisted.

"You can't… see me… go… away…" Kari mumbled breathlessly.

Suddenly it was like a bolt of lightning went through Kari and her expression changed into a familiar evil smirk. Her jet black hair looked as though it had red roots but then it grew down her whole head until all of her hair was red. Neither of them could forget her blazing red eyes.

"You're the girl… from…" Trinity gasped

"Kari…?" Gaara questioned her.

"Kira actually…" She said in a murderous voice.

"I-It makes sense now…everything…" Trinity stuttered.

Gaara just blinked, this is what she wasn't telling him? This was a part of her? It was like a missing piece to the puzzle was there. He couldn't believe she kept this from the village for 6 years. There was so much more to this he didn't know, but he was going to find out.

"Why are you…?" Gaara went to question but she held up her hand.

"Look, you don't need to know anything. I'm in control now, not Kari. I'll make this quick because I have better stuff to do, and you both aren't worth a fight." Kira said bored as she stood up.

"Excuse me?" Trinity exclaimed.

"Why are you attacking the village?" Gaara finally finished his sentence.

"Fine, I was testing the village. You guys are okay." She shrugged.

"That's it… where is the stuff you stole?" Trinity asked.

"Kari's closet." She answered and then suddenly had Trinity by her throat.

"Death is so nice, I promise sweetheart." Kira was breathing down Trinity's neck.

Trinity couldn't really breathe let alone speak. Trinity was trying to think of something to do that wouldn't hurt Kari when Gaara stepped in. He had Kira's body surrounded in sand.

"You let go of her or die." Gaara said with a straight face.

"Heh… You are very good at this but I know you wouldn't…" Kira responded smoothly.

Then suddenly the hands on Trinity disappeared and Kira seemed to have turned into a liquid? No it was a snake … that slithered out of the sand easily. Then she turned back but not before Trinity cringed, she hated snakes.

"I will see you next time." She smirked and fell to the desert floor. The red drained out of her hair the same way it had appeared. The smirk faded to calmer look as she slipped out of consciousness.

"She's… Kari again?" Gaara stated uncertainly.

"Kari's body ran out of chakra…" Trinity guessed.

Trinity headed over to give Kari a check over. She was worried of all the chakra drain that had happened in the last hour or so. Kari had a bit of a fever and some bruises and cuts but mainly she was just exhausted.

"Gaara can you carry her to the hospital?" Trinity asked.

"What? Oh fine…" he muttered.

_Oooo a crazy chapter! Haha, this chapter is very important though._

_Next chapter will have a ton of information… just saying_

_I hope you enjoyed it; the next one may be a bit longer to get out…_

_Because of all the details I am going to have to write…_

_But I promise I will make sure it's not too long._

_-Torie_


	7. The Pot Calling the Kettle Black

**Chapter 6**

**The Pot Calling the Kettle Black**

A bright light was all Kari noticed as she opened her eyes, this wasn't her bedroom. She looked around, it looked to be, a hospital? She was wondering when she had gotten there.

'What happened?' She pondered.

She sat up and noticed a lot of her energy was back. What day was it? What happened after she ran from the sound ninja's? She had so many questions with no answers. She decided it would be best to lie there, as boring as it was.

Sooner or later she heard footsteps walking towards the room; she closed her eyes so that she didn't have to talk to anyone yet when she heard them enter the room.

"What happened exactly?" a female questioned.

"Err…well… we just found her like that. Don't worry I'll continue to take care of her until she wakes up." Kari recognized the voice as Trinity.

"Right, but it is weird how she was attacked and then the sound ninja's just disappeared." the other girl responded but before Trinity could respond she added,

"Well, I have to take care of some others so just tell me when you find out some more facts."

Trinity sighed, "That woman is so annoying sometimes, just because you're one of the main nurses doesn't mean you need to know everything." Glancing at Kari she began to do her normal nurse duties when Kari opened her eyes.

"That woman was extremely annoying." Kari stated bluntly.

Trinity jumped a little and glanced over at Kari who was sitting up and yawning bored-like.

"You're awake? That's great." Trinity responded smiling.

"Yeah I am, so what happened anyway?" Kari asked.

"You…" Trinity hesitated to continue as Kari watched her.

"…turned into someone...else." She finished while Kari shut her eyes in displeasure of the news. When Kari didn't respond and wasn't looking at Trinity anymore Trinity added,

"Kari, you need to tell us… what's going on, it will be a secret. And we can help protect that secret."

"Who is we? And Kari's awake?" Someone called as they walked into the room. It was Gaara, of course.

"Gaara, you know we would protect her secret." Trinity said to him crisply.

"I don't need help protecting my secret. I don't trust Gaara anyway." Kari muttered angrily.

"Is that anything to say to someone who carried you to the hospital?" Gaara responded.

"You… did…?" Kari was taken aback by what he said.

"Yeah, Trinity asked me to though."Gaara added.

"Oh." Was all Kari said.

"Kari please understand, we need to know what is going on. We're not asking for your file. We're asking because we care. As a friend I want to be here for you." Trinity pleaded.

Kari sighed, she looked away from them. This was hard for her; this is stuff she promised herself she wouldn't say to anyone. She really didn't want to talk about it, but for Trinity… she figured she could do it.

"I was originally from the sound village. I had lived there my whole life. My parents died when I was young so I lived with my adopted parents. They never told me much about my parents but apparently that they worked for Orochimaru and that's how Kira came to be. Orochimaru created this thing…a weapon he could use. He murdered a lot of people and somehow created this being, Kira, who had immense power. Unfortunately he couldn't control it so my parents allowed him to seal it inside me. Anyway, he can control her when she is released but, until recently… it was for her to be released. I have sort of mastered keeping her locked away. I just couldn't get to angry."

"So she's more likely to come out when you're angry?" Trinity questioned and Kari nodded.

"Alright but, how did you end up here?" Gaara asked.

"I left. I hated it there. Once I was able to control Kira, I came here. Although, Orochimaru has been just letting Kira roam about doing what she wants lately. All he's been doing is opening her release." Kari said.

"Okay, well I can help you with Kira's seal. I have a natural skill of sealing jutsu." Trinity responded.

"Really?" Kari stated surprised.

"I can only do a temporary seal now but I may be able to come up with a stronger one later. I can use the temporary one for now if you want." Trinity asked.

"Well, yeah that would be nice." Kari said with a smile.

After Trinity put her temporary seal on Kari she started gathering her nurse supplies and then said,

"I have to go to other patients, but Kari, your set to go anytime. Gaara please walk her home."

"Why?" Gaara asked twisting his face into a scowl.

"You should never be positive with temporary seals and I want to make sure Kari gets home safe. Pleaseee…" Trinity begged giving him her puppy dog eyes.

"Yeah fine, whatever." Gaara mumbled rolling his eyes.

"I don't need an escort Trinity, I am fine, really." Kari reassured.

"I understand but as a friend I want to do this for you and it would make me feel better." Trinity responded.

"I…okay..." Kari agreed sighing a little.

"Alright, well bye and thanks." Trinity smiled leaving the room.

OOO

Kari figured after she got home she would see if she hadn't got fired from her bartending job, she headed over there and Aki her boss seemed to be waiting for her, but he wasn't mad.

"I'm… really sorry…" Kari started.

"No, it's okay. You're lucky we had a fill in." Aki informed her.

"Who?" Kari asked hoping they weren't going to replace her.

"Her name was… Trinity, she is your friend right?" He replied.

"Yes she is…" Kari answered.

"Yeah well, she is going to be working with you on your shifts from now on. She is pretty good and I figure both of you can work together." He added.

"Really? That's cool." Kari smiled and he nodded in response as he handed her a paper with her shifts.

"See you tomorrow." He smiled back as she waved and left.

As Kari headed home, she was quite happy. She hadn't lost her job and Trinity was going to help her with Kira. Things would be going perfectly if she could find away to deal with Gaara.

"I see you didn't lose your job." Gaara was suddenly walking next to her glancing at her paper. It was like he could tell when someone was thinking about him. Kari almost jumped when he showed up but relaxed herself.

"Yup… but you already walked me home. Why did you come back? Are you that curious about me?" Kari smirked while Gaara sighed rolling his eyes.

"My work can be more interesting than you-" He started as Kari growled.

"-but Trinity wanted me to make sure her seal works." He finished.

"You can be really rude; Trinity is so nice compared to you." She said while mumbling the end.

"I don't like people unlike Trinity, and you're the same as me." Gaara pointed out.

"I am surprised you didn't add a idiom and so what, I don't love people. You're just scary." She stated. (Idiom: Pot calling the kettle black)

"I'm surprised you even know what an idiom is…Hmm, so you are scared of me?" Gaara smirked, taunting her was too easy.

"Shove off! And No, but everyone else is." She hissed while Gaara didn't look phased.

"At lease I didn't beat up a 40 year old last week." He said solemnly.

"He was a pervert and all I did was slap him... wait, you are a stalker!" She accused.

"No I am the Kazekage, I know everything. There's a difference." He noted.

"Whatever." She grumbled.

OOO

Kari and Trinity working together was a pleasant experience. Trinity made it more fun, and actually brought more happiness to the bar. Kari couldn't really do what she did, Kari could do all the normal things her job required but Trinity was always happy and it wasn't creepy or fake. It could bring a lot of people up if they were depressed.

'I guess this is why Aki kept her…' Kari thought to herself as she grabbed two bottles of beer, popped them open and passed them down to the customers.

The night went on just fine, and Kari did her performance. (She dances to entertain people, mostly hip hop with tricks) Trinity made things a lot easier with the amount of work Kari had to do and it was nice.

By the end they were both wiping down the bar and tables. Everything had run well, no issues, no one complained about the service.

Once they finished they were heading down the street and chatting about how the night had been.

"I didn't know you could dance like that!" Trinity exclaimed excitedly.

"Last time I saw you work you were just a waitress…" she finished.

"Well… I don't dance every night. I don't plan on being attacked anytime soon." Kari giggled and Trinity joined in as well.

"Well ladies, I think those plans will be changed." Someone said as a group of guys jumped out of an alley all around them. There were about 7 guys around them and Kari smirked.

"I think you guys picked the wrong chicks to mess with…" Kari said coolly, especially because of the fact that practically none of the guys were ninjas so it wouldn't be hard to win.

"Guys, I really don't think you should be doing this." Trinity responded to them innocently with a small smile. "I don't think the Kazekage will be too happy about it."

"The Kazekage won't know who killed you guys and you all can't take all of us on." Another one said as they all put masks on.

"Damn it!" Trinity cursed as some sort of purple gas came streaming around them.

"Don't breathe Kari, its knock out gas." Trinity added as she covered her face with her sleeve. Kari started to do the same but realized she had breathed some of it and was getting a little dizzy.

"_Atemi kaze no jutsu!" _Kari gasped the jutsu, which blew the gas away with wind.

Kari and Trinity now were in a slightly sticky situation. Both of them had breathed the gas at least a little bit and Kari wasn't sure how long it would be until they may pass out.

But then Kari noticed something as the gas completely cleared, Gaara was there holding all the guys in place with sand.

"You both seriously couldn't handle this?" Gaara questioned them.

"They surprised us, but your right." Trinity answered.

"Are you okay Trinity?" He asked.

"Fine, I breathed a little of the gas but I already took an antidote. Here's some for you too Kari, I know you breathed in a little more so drink all of it." Trinity handed a small vial to Kari as Kari sat down and drank it.

"Where did you …?" Kari questioned her clearly confused where it came from.

"Since I am a medic nin I carry some simple antidotes and a first aid kit in my purse just in case, this gas is simple and wouldn't be hard for them to get." She responded smiling a little.

"Oh." Was all Kari said as she suddenly realized how much of a connection Trinity and Gaara had.

"Well I am turning them in." Gaara said as he turned around while the men floated behind him in their sand contraptions.

OOO

Because of the event Trinity had walked Kari to her house to make sure the antidote had its full effect and nothing went wrong. As they went inside Kari's apartment Kari sat on the couch as Trinity looked around slightly concerned.

"Sorry, the place is a little messy…" Kari mumbled embarrassed.

"Right, a _little_… but what I don't get is why is your kitchen spotless?" Trinity questioned.

"Well, I don't always cook… but I like to cook… so I keep it clean." Kari answered.

"I see, so you hate laundry and throw your clothes… and everything else in your living room?" Trinity added slightly amused and Kari shrugged.

"No one ever comes over and I never have time…"

"Right, I wonder why Gaara never said anything to me while he was here…" Trinity wondered as she sat next to Kari on the couch.

"Hmmm, you must be clean if you're a secretary." Kari said suddenly.

"Oh, very." Trinity replied.

"Which reminds me… how did you and Gaara become such good friends?" Kari asked not looking at Trinity and rubbing her head. Trinity laughed and thought about it exactly and then answered,

"Well, I knew him when I was little. Karin, my sister, and I would visit Suna to see our grandmother. I used to live in the leaf village. Eventually I wanted to move here, and I did… then about a year later Gaara became the Kazekage and he needed a secretary. When we were younger I had always tried to become his friend and he just wasn't open to it so I became his secretary I succeeded. I helped him a lot and he appreciated it. So I guess I grew on him. Why do you ask?"

"I noticed today how he came for you… and then really realized how close you both were." Kari confessed.

"Well he would do that for anyone in the village. He may not show it but he cares for this village. Being the Kazekage has gave him a purpose." Trinity said.

"I know… I just…" Kari mumbled.

"Oh I get it! You wanna be his friend don't you? Aww… you probably think he hates you don't you?" Trinity realized.

"Sort of… I mean, I don't know if I want to be his friend…I just…" Kari didn't know what to say.

"If you are my friend, he'll get used to you. Don't take anything he says or does personal, that's just Gaara." Trinity coaxed.

Kari shrugged as Trinity stood up.

"Well I better get going, I don't want to be out too late." Trinity explained.

"Okay, thanks for the antidote. Jeez, three times you've helped me today, in the hospital, at work and now." Kari laughed.

"Ah, well I just like to help and I am a medic nin." Trinity laughed as well then she added.

"Oh yeah, I got this cell phone for you. Don't worry about the bill, Gaara will pay for it, it's for if you ever need either of us. We're in the phone contacts but just note the phone doesn't work after about 2 hours into the desert."

"Thanks but… I can't pay for it and Gaara shouldn't have too." Kari responded.

"No really, it's no big deal. You need one and the phone can text and call." Trinity reassured.

"Alright…" Kari agreed. As Trinity and Kari said their goodbyes she wondered if Gaara was really okay with it…

_Hello all! _

_Here is another chapter, woo!_

_This is getting along well._

_Now, the next one may be alittle longer until it comes out for the fact of…_

_I am running low on ideas. Most the stuff I have planned is for the future._

_But, I am hoping the next one fresh and juicy… (I guess juicy is a good word to describe…)_

_LOL!_

_Don't think anything is over yet, because in reality… it's just beginning. I just don't want to move to fast_

_Byee!_

_-Torie_


	8. Why Are You So Immature, and Rockband?

**Chapter 7**

**Why Are You So Immature, and Rockband? **

Kari was lying on her couch blasting her stereo as she messed with new phone she had received when she heard a knock on the door. She jumped up and answered it.

"Yeah?" she said as she noticed it was the owner of the apartment building, she knew why he was there.

"You haven't paid your rent yet..." He muttered angrily.

"Sorry, I will have it soon, I swear." She replied a little annoyed.

"This is the fourth fucking time it's been late!!!" He started to raise his voice.

"Look chill, I'll get it." Kari growled.

"You better or you're gone!" he started to turn and then stopped and added,

"And turn this shit down!" implying her stereo was too loud.

She rolled her eyes slammed the door shut and suddenly noticed someone standing behind her. Kari almost attacked them until she saw who it was.

"Gaara, what do you want this time?" She questioned, still annoyed with her landlord as she turned the stereo down.

"Trust me; I'm not exactly here willingly." Gaara explained.

"Well that's great." Kari started and then added bitterly,

"So why are you here then?" Gaara raised an eyebrow because of the tone and replied with,

"Hmm… Well, you haven't paid your rent have you?"

"Were you listening to my conversation?!?!" Kari yelled; barely letting Gaara finish his sentence. He sighed,

"No, that's why I'm here. Trinity saw that you were going to possibly be evicted." Gaara actually kind of sounded like he cared.

"And you care _why_?" Kari exclaimed adding emphasis to 'why'.

"I don't." He said solemnly; dispelling any idea that he cared.

"Oh, well thanks." She rolled her eyes.

"Trinity told me to come see how you were doing; she's the one who cares." He added ignoring what she had said before.

"Um, do you always listen to her and how does she know this stuff?" She asked.

"No, I don't. I came because she was busy doing paper work and it was either this or paperwork…" He answered.

"I thought your work was more interesting than me?" Kari accused of what he previously said.

"Paperwork isn't the only job I have as the Kazekage. I do other stuff." He responded as she walked into her kitchen, he followed.

"Yeah whatever… and you never answered my second question."

"Well, as the Kazekage, I know everything. Plus because of your circumstances… We watch anything that's about you carefully." Gaara said.

"That's not creepy or anything…" She muttered as she was practically ripping a pan out of her her cabinet, Gaara didn't say anything at first, he just watched her carefully... She turned on her stove and slammed the pan down. Then she went into the fridge and yanked out some eggs, after she placed them on the counter she turned back to him.

"What now?!" she questioned him a little exasperated and he didn't say anything until she sat down at her table.

"Nothing… you just seem like you want to wreck your kitchen…" Gaara worded what he said carefully.

"I'm just…. Ugh!" Kari growled.

"Stressed?" He offered.

"No!" She snapped.

"Right…" and not even a second after he said it he had to dodge an egg that flew at him.

"Wow, I am so sorry for standing here." Gaara said with sarcasm.

"You're not even here on free will! Jeez, I **am** stressed! But I was out of work for a few days because of those events… and I'm low on money." Kari was attempting to calm down.

"What do you spend your money on anyway; both of your jobs would normally be able to afford a normal ninja's everyday life…" He asked.

"I… have a lot of bills to pay." She mumbled.

"... yeah okay, sure."

"Why don't you just look things up on me, I bet you could find out if you tried!" She began to raise her voice again.

"I probably could… but I found out all your secrets, so there's no point in doing so." Gaara exclaimed.

"All my secrets? Yeah fucking right." She boasted with a hint of attitude in her voice. As soon as the words left her mouth Kari froze, surprised.

"Okay…" he said simply, letting the topic drop, but he had slight interest in his voice.

"Um, anyway… Yeah, I owe money for all the places I destroy when I fight people. I also usually get whatever the person I fight destroys because no one likes me in this village."

"Ah, paying for your stupidity, seems appropriate." He shrugged.

"Paying for my stupidity?! Jeez, thanks. You know, Trinity sent you here to find out what was up with my rent not to make sly comments. I'm so sorry the villagers here are rude as hell and don't like me for whatever reasons."

"Yes what insane ideas they must have to not like you of all people." He said with, of course, sarcasm, while Kari just rolled her eyes with her back to him.

"Well you know-" She started to turn around but nobody was there, he had dissolved into sand.

"DAMN HIM AND HIS SAND!" She yelled to herself.

OOO

Kari was walking down the street trying to relax when she heard a voice, she would have ignored it but… it was hard not to listen.

"Ugh, I don't even want to be within 15 feet of you." A girl said.

Kari looked up and saw it was the Amaya girl from back when she fought Ryon.

'Wonderful' Kari thought to herself.

"Great, it's the bitch who told on me when I fought that Ryon kid." Kari stated bluntly.

"Hey I have a name!" The girl screeched.

"Yes, yes… everyone has a name." Kari responded trying to walk away.

"It's Amaya, get it right!" the girl continued to yell at Kari, when she wasn't responded too and was being left she added,

"I can't believe you forgot who I am."

"Am I supposed to remember?" Kari questioned.

"We used to hang out in the ninja academy!!!" she bellowed.

"Calm down- … oh wait, I think… I remember you. Are you the shy girl that got made fun of, and I helped you… God and now you're a bitch?!?!?!"

"Yes that was me and I became like this because you left the academy!" She continued to yell.

"Shhh, people are staring." Kari muttered annoyed at the Amaya girl.

Amaya then yanked onto Kari's arm and pulled over to a more quiet zone for them to talk, an alley way.

"Didn't your mom ever teach you about alleyways not being safe?" Kari stated.

"Ugh, my mom wouldn't have told me even if she was home and actually cared!" Amaya responded.

"Okay…"

"Anyway, I just have a few things to tell you. First of all, you may have helped me when I was shy, by I didn't _need_ you. I could have done things on my own. I always tried to be better than you! And then you left?! What's up with that?!" Amaya continued with her complaining.

"Am I here for your life story...Because frankly, I don't care." Kari's mood just kept going downhill.

"Well to bad! I am going to give you a piece of my mind!" Amaya shouted to her.

"Fine, whatever."

"But you left before I could get stronger than you! And 2 years early at that!" Amaya continued before Kari cut her off.

"Well, it shows how much you care." Amaya continued on her rant. "You forgot about me, and never came back or talked to me, you broke our friendship!"

"We were like ten! I probably didn't think it mattered and figured without me you would be able to grow as a person because nobody ever needs me." Kari replied.

"It doesn't matter now; I am going to prove it to you now that I have gotten stronger than you!"

"You're being really immature, why do you need to make sure you can beat me? Are you really that low in confidence?" Kari couldn't believe this girl, she was a psycho.

"You really don't understand-" but someone interrupted Amaya.

"Amaya Shimizu". A stern voice said, Amaya gulped knowing the voice, A women in her late 30's maybe early 40's was walking over to them. She looked like an older version Amaya, obviously it was her mom. The only difference Kari could notice was her mother had darker hair.

"M-Mom?"

"How dare you embarrass me like this, I can't believe you were about to pick a fight with someone and the worst part who it is! I told you she's trash." Her mom spoke, with venom in her voice.

"Excuse me?" Kari growled.

"Stay out of this." Her mother said bitterly.

"Mom, why are you here?"

"Well, I was out with Hoshi and I heard you talking." Amaya seemed to twist her expression unkindly when she heard Hoshi's name, Kari guessed she didn't like him.

"Oh." Amaya finally said.

"Now let's go, before you do something even _**stupider**_." As her mother added emphasis to the word as she glanced at Kari with an enraged expression. It took everything Kari had to hold herself back from attempting to kill this intolerable woman. She turned away from them and walked away as her eyes glistened with a red tint.

OOO

Kari was heading home from work when she noticed Trinity walking towards her,

"Oh good, I was afraid I'd miss you." She said and then continued,

"Anyway the reason I'm here is, I'm sorry for sending Gaara earlier, I was truly busy."

"Oh, it's okay. Kari answered.

"That's good! Anyway I have an idea that I think would be really cool! Will you help me?" Trinity asked, excitement hinting on the edge of her voice.

"Um, sure?" Kari wasn't sure to be afraid or excited for what she was going to say.

"Well, I want to get to know you more so I want to have a video game night, Rockband, DDR and a lot of other things. It'd be really fun!" She responded slightly excited.

"I guess that would be fun." Disappointing Trinity really wasn't an option and it did sound fun.

"I'm so glad you said yes, when is a night you don't work?"

"I don't work tomorrow night…" Kari stated.

"Tomorrow night at 7 sounds good then. I will pick you up at your house." Trinity spoke quickly yet smiling.

"Ah… Okay." Kari mumbled unsure about the whole thing.

OOO

You would think a day with nothing to do would go slow but not for Kari. The next day flew by pretty fast; all she did was relax around her house until nightfall. Trinity was going to pick her up soon and Kari couldn't help but wonder what kind of house Trinity had.

_Knock. Knock._

Kari answered to see obviously, Trinity. They both greeted each other and headed to Trinity's house. As they walked up, Kari took a second to look all around the outside of the house. It was of course, sand color but noticeably bigger than most the other houses around it and a bit decorated on the outside. It made you feel welcomed, and you wanted to go inside of it.

'Working for the Kazekage always has a good side I would guess…' Kari thought to herself for the fact of the size and quality of the house.

As they entered, Kari was greeted with a fresh scent of flowers, they took a left and entered the living room, it was painted a calming sky blue with a long couch, TV and big chair.

Then Kari noticed something that didn't make her to happy,

"He's here?" she asked suddenly referring to Gaara while he just sat with his cold persona.

"Yes, I figured it would be more for fun to play with more people." Trinity responded.

"It doesn't matter, I was forced here." Gaara stated.

"Gaara!" Trinity exclaimed and Kari rolled her eyes.

"Anyway…" Trinity finally said after a few moments of silence,

"What game do you both want to play?" she finished but she realized soon that it was a bad idea.

"DDR!" "Rockband" Kari and Gaara said at the same time, Kari saying DDR.

"Um... well…" Trinity wasn't sure what to say.

"Rockband is fine." Kari shrugged.

"Well, we can play DDR, but I'm using a controller." Gaara added.

Trinity was silent for a second sighing a bit annoyed.

"um...Rockband it is then." She said and everyone agreed on it.

As the hours passed and they played, it seemed like all of them loosened up. Well, at least Kari and Gaara, Trinity was already nice. In the end they came to the conclusion that Gaara won for the night, he had beaten them at twice the amounts they had won. Kari and Trinity had tied, although, Trinity was best a vocals, Kari was best on drums and Gaara was best on guitar.

"Some other time we'll do DDR." Trinity said with a smile.

"Pfft, yeah and I'd smoke both of you, even if you used a controller Gaara." Kari challenged with a cocky attitude.

"We'll see about that." Gaara responded trying not to snicker.

"Yeah, you will see. That's the only video game I own." Kari said as she headed towards the door.

"Heh, bye Kari." Trinity said, she was finally getting a chance to see more of Kari's personality.

"Bye." Kari smiled and walked outside the door, as the door shut Trinity turned to Gaara.

"You're getting used to her." She chimed while he looked annoyed.

"No, it's just part of my job." He responded.

"You never do that part of the job." She mused, smirking.

"Just because I am getting used to her doesn't mean I like her anymore than I did earlier today." He said solemnly.

"Oh sure, I saw the smirking!" She exclaimed still smirking.

"Whatever, She's going to be around anyway since you befriended her." He mumbled heading towards the door.

"Bye Gaara! … and Trinity wins." She whispered the last part while he glared at her because he heard her.

OOO

As Kari headed home from Trinity's house she thought about Gaara, that night had given her a bit of a new outlook on him.

'He's not so bad after all… I mean, He already isn't social and is the Kazekage, I kind of give him props.' She thought to herself as she turned a corner.

"KARI HIBAKI!" Someone suddenly bellowed and Kari froze, it scared her a little. Normally people didn't go shouting her name in the middle of the night in the village. When she turned around she saw, of course, Amaya.

"My mom may have interrupted us before, but I promise things will go down differently." She growled and Kari sighed.

"Don't you people ever learn?" Kari smirked, readying herself for an attack.

_Yay cliffhanger!_

_Sorry that took a little bit, I had to get some ideas, I was stuck after the first Amaya part and plus I wanted to make my chapter nice and long!_

_But, I finished this… 3 days ago, my editor was just busy so I had to wait till she finished editing it._

_I promise I will try to have the next chapter out sooner than later but I am in school now. *SIGH* yay 11__th__ grade. -.-_

_I hope you enjoyed, if so, POST A REVIEW! Please? T_T_

_-Torie_


	9. Jailbait?

**Chapter 8**

**Jailbait;… No Literally…**

"There's no way you can prepare for this fight…" Amaya smirked and it began.

Kari was once again fighting someone; she had finally figured that there was a sign taped to her shirt that she couldn't see that said 'FIGHT ME!' She started with using her normal technique, dodging and staying with her defensive taijutsu to get a feel of how Amaya fought. Amaya didn't fight badly but she was nothing special, especially with letting her anger control this fight. After a while Kari decided to change the mode of the fight but as she did so, Amaya changed her style.

"_Bokusou chikurin ei no jutsu_!" She called out. After she finished the hand signs, vines, bamboo and all kinds of grass and vines grew from the ground and gripped around every inch of Kari's body. She was engulfed in the forest and could barely see as Amaya threw about 8 kunai at her. Her only plan was to use Kira's chakra and use fire, but as the fire shot out there was an explosion, inside the vines and grass were laced bombs or something of the sort.

It sent Kari flying backwards, on fire, she was quite annoyed. She used a water jutsu to put out the big fire mess and herself. Amaya had gotten the upper hand, and Kari wasn't going to let that continue.

"What the hell is this?" Kari questioned bitterly and Amaya shrugged, unaffected by Kari's tone.

"What does it matter to you? Aren't you supposed to be able to deal with anything as a ninja?" Amaya responded, her mood had seemed to change throughout the battle so far. The fight was going her way, and wanted to win for some strange reason.

"_Touketsu mizu kasu." _Kari spoke, calming herself slightly. She couldn't let this get out of hand; she should have just left in the first place. The jutsu sent frozen spikes at her, but Amaya looked unfazed, of course, she had seen the same attack watching Ryon and had learned to dodge them.

"You sound calm; you shouldn't be, since I am going to kick your ass!" Amaya smirked, raising her voice. Kari knew she could win, but was it really worth it? Yes, it was. If she let Amaya win, she would be just giving her what she wanted and everyone would think she was weak if _Amaya _beat her. But, if she let Amaya win… and people knew, she'd probably be called a wimp and Amaya would attack her once again.

While Kari was contemplating her choice range, Amaya decided to once again attack, but this time was a little different. Kari realized that as it unfolded in front of her. Amaya used a genjutsu attack, it was her second specialty which wasn't good for Kari, it was her weakness. Genjutsu was something Kari could barely do and she worse at getting out of them. The world began to melt, all Kari could see was a swirl of colors, and it was making her sick. Next thing she knew she was being punched and slammed into the ground… but everything was so dizzy she couldn't tell where the attacks were coming from. Kari couldn't do anything unless she broke this jutsu. As she tried to stand up, she stumbled and someone slammed their fist into her chin. Luckily, it was hard enough to snap her back into reality.

"You do know pain can break a genjutsu." Kari blinked, seeing everything clear again and noticing the hits she had received. It was worse than she thought as she looked at the cuts and bruises.

"Your right, but I got to throw you around a bit so I don't mind." Amaya stated honestly and Kari smirked evilly.

"Well, I am done fucking around with you. No more games, okay?" Kari told her simply. Amaya didn't seemed fazed, but next thing she knew, Kari was next to her, knocking her back with a sharp hit to her gut.

Amaya jerked in response to the hit and paused in slight shock, which Kari used as the next opportunity to throw her kick into Amaya's face causing her to fly back a few feet and onto the ground. Kari knew she defiantly broke Amaya's nose, because her foot had hit directly.

"You… bitch…." Amaya mumbled as she stood up, wiping the blood that dripped out of her nose.

"It was my pleasure." Kari grinned trying not to laugh. Both girls turned unexpectedly; they both heard something, someone rounding the corner to where they were fighting and coming pretty quickly.

Once again, it was Amaya's mom along with some higher ranked ninjas.

"Her! She attacked my daughter, I told her to leave my baby alone but she did again! And Amaya just wanted to stand up for herself." She spoke to them pointing fiercely to Kari.

"Huh?" Kari was confused, where was this getting at. She wasn't sure what the ninja's were going to do. Amaya just stared in shock unsure what to do as her mother hurried over to her. Both Kari and Amaya could tell, the mother act was fake.

"You again?" One of the ninja's sighed.

"Well, you'll have to come with us." The other one added walking over to Kari and putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Don't touch me." Kari flinched, shrugging his hand off.

"Oh, and you are pathetic." Kari added venomously to Amaya, in response Amaya just continued to stare in disbelief, not able to process what was going on.

After Kari was taken away, Amaya looked over to her mother and glared.

"I can fight my own damn battles!" she exclaimed angrily.

"Doesn't look like you could." Her mother rolled her eyes as she applied make up; looking into a compact to avoid her daughter's bitter glare.

"Don't get into my business unless you actually care, not because of your opinions of another person!" Amaya continued yelling as she snatched her moms mirror and threw it, forcing her mother to actually pay attention.

"Hey! I have a date tonight, I need that! And of course I care honey." Her mom went and picked it up, Amaya gave a sour look to her in response and then said,

"I can't believe you were actually once a praised ninja…stop lying to yourself."

"Amaya, things changed when your father died." She spoke slowly as she put on lipstick.

"Yeah, you dropped being a ninja, and became a slut." Amaya growled vehemently.

"Excuse me! I date one guy." Her mother growled, putting the makeup away.

"Yeah, and you never stay together with him for more than a month! Besides, you know I hate him." Amaya muttered the last part with so much spite it made her mom look like an angel.

"Don't say that about Hoshi-kun, he is very respectable." Her mother responded then started to walk away. Before she was out of sight she added,

"Oh and go home right now."

Amaya cursed silently to herself and kicked a trashcan. Her mother had changed so much over 4 years; she wasn't even sure it was the same person.

"Respectable? Yeah, right." She laughed with humorlessly and walked the opposite way of her mom.

OOO

"What the hell?!" Kari exclaimed as she was brought into the police building. She wasn't even given her chance to talk, or even make a statement. She was just thrown in a jail cell with 2 guys, One looking to be mid 20's, maybe late 20's , while the other seemed to be in his early 20's.

"They say they give you a chance, but they lie. Once they believe you did it, they don't change their minds." The older one muttered to the wall.

"I'm Noriaki and he's Ryuu." He added, still to the wall, pointing to the other guy as well with a quick gesture of his hand.

"Um… hi… my name is Kari…" She said, unsure of the men standing before her.

"Hmmm, you look… um, young? A little too young to be in jail." Noriaki questioned raising his eyebrow and looking her up and down, smirking a little.

"She's underage." The other guy spoke for the first time directing what he said to Noriaki, his voice was deep and mysterious.

"Yeah I am 15… turning 16 this year…" Kari said looking carefully at the other guy sitting in the corner with his arms crossed, Noriaki sighed.

"I was hoping you would at least be 18…" He mumbled.

"But, why would they put someone so young in jail without more of a statement…" Noriaki added still talking to himself.

Kari just sat down on a bed and waited to see what would happen next, about 20 minutes later a ninja that brought her in came over to their cell and began to speak,

"Okay Kari… your being charged for attacking, destruction of property, and stalking… and since you've had so many issues in the past you're going to have to be in here for a little bit of time." What he said was quite simple but sounded a bit harsh.

"But, that's not fair… I am only 15…" Kari stared at him in disbelief.

"Too many charges, sorry miss." And he walked away.

"That bites." Was all Noriaki said.

Kari soon after this was said, fell to her knees next to the bars, and leaned her head against them. What was going to happen now? She wasn't sure. She didn't exactly know how the law enforcement was; she didn't really pay attention to it. Out of all the stuff she did, she never thought she would land herself in jail.

'Maybe I should have thought things through better…' she murmured to herself.

OOO

The next day around mid-afternoon, Gaara was in his office doing paperwork alone because Trinity was at the hospital working. That always made the day seem so much longer and so much more boring. As he flipped to another paper he began to remember the night before, he did admit to himself that it was fun with Kari there but, he would never tell anyone. He sighed as he signed something and moved on to the next stack of papers.

'_**Latest Criminal Activity' **_He read, it was just the summaries of all the crimes over the past few days on the first few pages, while the rest of the packet had each crime thoroughly described on the rest of the pages. He began to skim over it when he stopped and noticed something odd. They had discovered two teenage girls on the street fighting, one of their mothers had told the police about it. Since the other one had started it, she had been taken in, and because she had too many issues on her record she was put directly into jail.

'That really is odd, what girl at that age has so many things on her record she doesn't get a proper trial or statement.' Gaara thought to himself as he flipped to the page that dictated the whole episode.

'_**Amaya Shimizu and Kari Hibaki were fighting in the back of an alley last night. We were tipped off by Amaya's mother, Momoko Shimizu. She told us that Kari Hibaki had been starting trouble and provoking violent activity. Momoko used to be a very reliable ninja so we took Kari in and noticed all the wreckage she had put against the village and all the fights she had been with villagers and decided for the sanity and safety of the village to put her in jail for 3 months.'**_

The page also stated some more facts about Kari and how Amaya's father had died 5 years ago on a ninja mission and when Amaya's father died Momoko stopped being a ninja, but these were minor details.

After Gaara read this he couldn't believe it, Kari was in jail for fighting? She was a ninja and so was Amaya, ninja's fight all the time. He actually was a little mad, the police force was being ridiculous and for some reason Gaara had a feeling Kari didn't start the fight. Somewhere he had heard Amaya didn't really like Kari all too much. This all seemed too unlikely to be a mere coincidence.

Gaara felt like he had to do something about it, Trinity would be upset over this and Kari didn't deserve it, so he got up and headed downstairs. As he walked through the dreaded room with his millions of secretaries they all started to greet him as they did their work, but after the first few, they learned Gaara wasn't very happy.

"Hello Kazekage-sama! Are you finished your work today?" one spoke to him excitedly.

"No." he grumbled.

"Then where are you going-" She started but then stopped because of the glare he was giving, and the aura of **'**_**Leave me alone.**_**'**

As he left the building, he ran into his siblings and once again, gave them the same persona.

"Gaara what's going on?" Kankuro asked, concerned but still a bit frightened, after Gaara explained Temari looked angry as well.

"They have no right to do that!" She exclaimed, looking angry.

"Yeah, I know. That's why I am going to go and talk to them." Gaara responded as he continued back to walking, while they followed.

"I swear I am going to go in there and- !!!" Temari started but Gaara cut her off.

"I'll handle it."

Temari seemed like she wanted to say something but knew Gaara would do a better job at dealing with it because of his position and attitude so she kept her mouth shut as they headed there.

As they arrived there and walked inside all ninja's and everyone seemed to jump at Gaara's presence, more probably because of his face than him being the kazekage.

"Kazekage-sama, what is you need?" one of them asked, he sounded very professional but a little nervous.

"What is this?" Gaara pointed to the section about 'Amaya and Kari' on his document.

"Um… what do you mean?" The guy was confused.

"You didn't let her have a statement or trial, and I have knowledge that what's written here isn't even true." Gaara said sternly, obviously a bit angry.

"Sir… it's not like that, we had an alibi for Amaya…" The guy started.

"Listen, I know that Amaya doesn't like Kari. And I know for a fact that her mother made up that shit so Amaya wouldn't get in trouble. So let Kari out, _now_." Gaara spoke defensively trying not to lose his cool.

"Um… yes, Kazekage-sama." The guy answered, unsure of what to do and Gaara sighed.

"Jeez, go. I'm coming too."

"N-No… you can stay here…" The guy stammered but then decided to just let Gaara come with him because of his expression, while Temari and Kankuro waited in the lobby.

OOO

Kari was growing rather bored and exhausted in the cell; she hadn't slept well that night. Not only did she have two grown men in one room with her but she didn't know what she was going to do. She didn't want to stay in there… she wanted to be home and be a ninja, and live a normal life. If she wanted to be a criminal she would have stayed at the sound village.

She finally heard Noriaki stirring awake, man could he sleep. It was already past 2 in the afternoon. Ryuu had been up for awhile, he was still extremely quiet. As Noriaki sat up he glanced at Kari and it was like an electric wave past through him.

"Well hellooo." He said and jumped right on top of her, Kari didn't respond to this because it surprised her and she was just stunned.

"He's not completely awake, don't mind him." Ryuu said bored, yawning.

"Don't mind?! He's on top of-… me." She had paused to try and push him off because he was attempting to kiss her.

"Now baby, I won't hurt you…" He said pushing her to a wall with a lot of force but still slowly.

"Um help?!" Kari yelped.

"You don't need it; his hormones have just been building up for awhile." Ryuu spoke but his tone still the same. Not even a second after he said that she heard a couple people coming around the corner.

"Here she is-…." One of the ninja police guys said but froze when he saw the situation.

"You put an underage girl, in a cell with older men….?" A voice said irritated, Kari couldn't see him but knew it was Gaara. He seemed to be once again, saving her.

"W-well… we didn't think…" the guy started.

"Get her out and him off of her." Gaara responded slightly disgusted or was that just anger…?

The guy seemed to open the cell as a response and Noriaki just automatically got up and sat on the bed yawning widely.

"See ya, jailbait." He smirked.

Kari stood up and was led out of the cell by the other guy, and she was still a little shaken up. She was used to stressful situations, but not like that and not with a guy so close to her.

Gaara looked at Kari and his eyes softened a bit, she was a bunch of trouble but she didn't deserve that. He could tell she was uncomfortable with what had happened.

As they left Kankuro walked Kari home, Gaara didn't exactly like that for the fact that he wanted to talk to her about what happened but he had to stay and finish the paper work for Kari and explain what happened and etc.

OOO

It had been about 20 minutes since Kankuro and Kari had left the station, at first just chatted until he asked what happened.

"So that's what actually happened?" Kankuro questioned after Kari explained it to him.

"Yup, it sucks everyone always puts things against me." Kari responded as she sighed.

"Hmm, well I never would. Which has me wondering if you wanted to hang out sometime…?" He asked as they were about 10 feet from Kari's apartment building.

"That sounds nice." Kari smiled politely and Kankuro grinned.

"Bye!" He called excitedly after he dropped her off and she headed inside.

'He's nice.' Kari thought to herself as she reached her floor.

She headed towards her door and then noticed something; Gaara was standing outside the door, waiting for her.

"Um hi? Didn't I just see you?" She said.

"I need to talk to you about last night for your statement." He replied coolly, something else seemed to be annoying him.

"Right, come in." She opened the door and he followed.

_Oh damn, I am ending it there! :O_

_Hahaha, I actually have more I could add to this chapter but I am just going to use it for the next one since after this idea runs short I have to think of something else. O.O_

_Anyway, hope you enjoyed, because it was fun writing it. ^_^_

_It's actually a pretty long chapter than normal so soak it in cause I have no idea when the next one will come out! ;)_

_BTW! I have been done this chapter for 2 weeks! (no lies) my editor was busy and lazy... more lazy i think. haha_

_Started chapter 9 though. ^_^_

_-Torie_


	10. Acceptance and the New Guy

**Chapter 9**

**Accepted and the New Guy**

How interesting life had been lately for Kari, she fought a psycho, got sent to jail, was assaulted, got a nickname, Gaara got her out of jail, Kankuro asked her to 'hang out' with him and now Gaara was at the door of her apartment.

"Um… I am guessing… you want to know what happened." Kari questioned slowly, sighing. The story of Amaya and her, she presumed as she sat on her couch.

"Yeah, I did say it wasn't your fault… but I actually don't know the story, I need to know." He responded as he followed her through the door and glanced unsure at the couch.

"Well, it's quite simple. She bugged me earlier yesterday and her mother made her stop, then after I left Trinity's, she found me again and bugged me… and attacked… We knew each other in school. And she has this goal to beat me, it's odd." She rambled on a bit.

"Well, that's interesting. It seems like every day I learn something new about you." He said, shaking his head in disbelief as she rolled her eyes, which led into an awkward silence.

"You can sit down…" Kari mumbled after a minute, trying to be nice. He accepted the offer and sat on the other side of the couch.

"How long did you fight her?" He questioned, suddenly remembering he had more to ask her.

"Maybe 15 minutes?" she contemplated as he nodded and looked at her; he noticed a good amount of bruises.

"Was she strong?" He wondered taking note of the marks; Kari knew what question he was leaning to. She had a few more bruises than normal and she was curling her left arm in to her body a little. She was pretty sure she had gotten small fracture there.

"Not exactly… I just got caught in a genjutsu…" She said reluctantly. As she said that Gaara remembered something he read awhile back, her weakness was genjutsu.

"Oh I see, you couldn't get out of the genjutsu very well…" He added to her confession as she sighed.

'I don't know why I am so disappointed… how would he not know? He is the Kazekage.' She thought to herself.

"Everyone has their weaknesses… it's no big deal…" He was trying to comfort her a little; she obviously liked to keep things about her to herself. He had to respect that, he was the same way.

"I guess…" Kari replied solemnly and then decided to change the subject.

"Do you have any missions coming up? I haven't gone on one in awhile and I could really use the cash for my rent." Gaara paused, thinking of any good missions for her. All he knew was he needed to definitely get her on a team.

"Are you sure that's a good idea… after what happened last time?" He said, knowing what her response would be.

"Of course it's fine! I can handle it." He knew she would say that.

"Well… I guess it'll be fine. But I'm sending some people with you." Gaara finally concluded. Kari looked displeased with what his rules were, but she didn't mind at the same time, she needed the money.

"Alright… I guess I can deal with that." She finally spoke as he stood.

"Right, come to my office tomorrow around 3 and I'll give you the details." She nodded and a second later he was gone, disappearing into sand.

OOO

"Oh my gosh!" Someone gasped as she glanced at her watch and began to quicken her speed.

"What?" she asked, concerned.

"I was supposed to meet someone…. I am going to be so late, oh wait! Could you cover for me?" They responded as if the idea was the most perfect thing of all, and not wanting to crush their hope she complied.

"Sure." She added her traditional smile everyone was so used to seeing, Trinity was used to this sort of thing. She was nice, and doing extra things wouldn't kill her. She did so much anyway… 'But why make anyone unhappy when you don't have to…' was more how Trinity thought. People knew she was no pushover because of ninja training but her kindness was just tattooed onto her soul.

"Thank you so much!" The nurse Trinity was talking to spoke joyfully; she hugged Trinity and ran out of the hospital room they were organizing, preparing for whoever used it next. The previous person hadn't been sent home long before that.

"You know, you are way too nice." Someone said to her, standing in the doorway. Trinity recognized the voice as Temari.

"Hello Temari-san." She replied happily, trying not to laugh at Temari's accusation; and expression for being called 'Temari-san'.

"Well anyway, that's not the reason I'm here. When's the last time you've been to the office?" Temari questioned, walking in and sitting on a visitor chair.

"Hmm, it's been over 24 hours…" Trinity answered after thinking about it for a second, it been quite a bit….

"So I assume you don't know?" Temari continued, more seeming to mumble to herself than to be talking to Trinity.

"What?" Trinity stopped, curious.

"About Kari…. She…" Temari began, pausing, deciding on how to word it.

"Kari? What happened?" All of Trinity's focus on Temari and what she was going to say.

"Yeah fine, she just got into some trouble….-no surprise these days though- and was sent to …jail." Temari finally said, and before she could continue, a stunned look had passed through Trinity's face.

"Tell me what the trouble was!" Trinity said in a slightly demanding tone. Temari nodded and began to tell her the story of Amaya and Kari.

"So basically, they fought because Amaya willed it; Amaya's mom saw them, stopped it and blamed Kari…. And Kari was put in jail because of how many things she had against her already…" Trinity summarized from what Temari said.

"Well… basically, but Gaara got her out. He seemed kind of mad about it too…" Temari muttered, as she seemed to be contemplating something and Trinity nodded as she understood. 

"Well I would imagine Gaara doesn't hate her anymore…" Trinity spoke in a calm tone yet having a slight smirk of enjoyment on her face. Her plan did work, and he accepted her as a friend now.

"Do you work with Kari tonight?" Temari asked as she stretched, standing up and preparing to leave.

"Hmmmm, yeah I think so." Trinity said, pulling out her black planning book.

"Damn! Do you plan your whole life?" Temari exclaimed, grabbing the book and flipping through it as she saw many things scribbled on it from, Gaara's meetings, her shifts, things to do and etc…

"Well, not everything. But I have three jobs and a normal life to keep in line so I have to make sure I don't forget anything. And yes, I do work tonight with Kari." Trinity responded, ripping the book out of Temari's hands in a playful way as Temari just shook her head.

"When do you sleep? Eat? Relax?" Temari wondered, not really expecting a response.

"Well, working as a secretary is easy, and at the bar I only work a few shifts a week that are only a few hours. Being a medic nin is the only job that can be a bit difficult at times." Trinity shrugged, continuing with her work.

"Alright… Well I will leave you to your… fun, then." Temari mused, motioning to her work in the hospital room.

"Bye." Trinity called as Temari walked out, then she snickered lowly at Temari's 'hilarious' joke. (Hilarious is sarcasm!)

OOO

Kari turned the corner and continued on her way, she was going to be late if she didn't keep a steady pace. As she walked into the bar, she sighed with relief, 5 minutes to spare. She didn't rejoice long though, for there was someone new behind the counter. Aki had hired a new guy Kari guessed, and she hadn't met him yet. He probably was here when she was in jail… She walked up to him and as she did, Aki, the boss came up.

"Well, I guess you're not late… that's always a plus." He spoke to her in a bored tone, what he said probably referring to the fact she missed a shift while in jail. Kari just smiled a little bit, he seemed like he would never fire her even if she missed a week of work.

"Anyway, this is Haku. He is a bartender here now..." Aki had continued talking; Kari nodded in response to the questions, and finally got a good look at this 'Haku' guy.

He was actually quite attractive. Jet black hair, the same color as hers, reached the back of his neck but not covering too much of his face, His eyes were a crystal blue, while he stood about 8-10 inches taller than her, and on top of that he wore one of those badass smirks, yet still looking friendly and approachable. She wasn't sure if she had seen him before, or even if he was a ninja. But, his attitude seemingly pointed in the direction that he was a ninja or just over-confident.

"Well, like he said, I'm Haku, your Kari right?" He questioned her with a definite flirting tone, but not overcrowding her and defiantly over-ruling the thought Kari had about him possibly being gay.

"Yeah, Nice to meet you." She replied, being polite but not flirting back, if she had to work with him she didn't want to go in that direction with him.

"Hmm, jail I heard?" He still seemed to want to make conversation, but noticed her not into his flirting, so his tone was more normal. Kari had jumped over and into the bar so she could make drinks and take orders.

"Don't ask, just work, and then maybe I will like you." Kari spoke with her tone slightly cold as she started working. Temari was right, she was terrible at making friends, it's just how she always with new people. She had, had many people in the past put on the fake friend act to try and get information from her.

"Feisty!" Haku commented; refocusing on his work. She noticed him shake his head and laugh lowly. She rolled her eyes, this guy seemed okay, maybe a bit funny but, in the end, he was going to annoy the shit out of her.

OOO

It had been a couple hours at the bar and Kari got a lot done, it was almost 9pm when Kari realized something. Trinity's shift started at 9pm, and Kari hadn't seen her since before the Amaya battle and she didn't know about it.

'Well, unless someone told her…' Kari thought to herself

Kari wasn't sure, but either way, she'd have to hear Trinity asking what happened or she would have to tell her… Kari may have only known Trinity for about 2 months but if she found out that Kari didn't tell her…

"Kari-chan!" Someone called, Kari knew it was Trinity. Trinity ran and jumped into the bar practically knocking down the bottles on the tray Kari had, that needed to go to their table. Kari ended up stumbling but collecting herself so that none of them fell except one which Trinity caught.

"Jail???" She exclaimed as she stared at Kari in disbelief.

"Urm… I have to take this… be right back." Kari scurried off to deliver people's drinks; Trinity stared off at her in slight annoyance but then glanced at Haku.

"Oh hi, I'm Trinity, you must be Haku." She spoke quickly but in a kind tone.

"Yeah, how did you…?" He looked confused.

"Oh, I am a secretary for the Kazekage; I know almost everyone." She shrugged, continuing to do what Kari had been doing before she left.

"Right… Nice too meet you." Haku understood, but was already intimidated by her, although all he received was good feelings from her, as he said it, Kari returned.

"Alright, now spill, Temari told me a summary but, details please." Trinity said, as they both continued working behind the bar; then Trinity also added,

"Shoo, go and deliver these." She pushed a tray to Haku and he nodded, leaving.

So Kari explained the story more detailed, once again to another person. Trinity didn't say anything until the end of the story, and it was a bit odd to Kari.

"What a pain in the ass she is." Trinity grumbled.

"What?" Kari was a bit surprised; this wasn't Trinity's normal persona.

"I don't like Amaya, I never have." Trinity stated.

"Well… why? You never seem to dislike anyone…" Kari spoke as Haku returned.

"I just never have for some reason." Trinity shrugged.

"Oh…" Kari blinked, unsure what else to say.

OOO

Finally it was the next day; Trinity would have to work at the office and hospital that day, and not the bar. Not that she minded, working with Kari was fun but without Trinity or a personal secretary in general, Gaara wouldn't survive a week. You would think working as a secretary would be hard, but it wasn't. Generally the bar could be more work, you just needed to be a bit smarter to be a secretary. Working the hospital was the most work though, and the most tiring, she worked there the second most after being Gaara's secretary. The irony for that was being medic nin was supposedly her main job.

As Trinity walked into Gaara's office, Gaara looked up at her and saw her slight smirk. He knew she was going to pester him about something. He prepared for whatever it was as she spoke,

"Gaara, I knew it…" Her smirk grew to a grin.

"Knew what?" he questioned irritably as he (unfortunate for him) continued his paperwork.

"Kari! You helped her; she and Temari told me about what happened." She spoke somewhat excited as she began to organize the office, which he had messed up since she had not been there for maybe a day or two. She didn't know how he managed to do that.

"Oh yeah… that." He shrugged and then continued.

"It was only right, just because a few people don't like her doesn't mean she needs to be mistreated to her right as a citizen to this village." He kept reading and signing things, so he couldn't see Trinity's annoyed face.

"No, that's not exactly what I meant…" She grumbled a little as he looked up, confused.

"I know you consider her a friend!" She exclaimed walking over to him to see what paperwork he was filling out. Gaara didn't respond, and his expression didn't really change but Trinity knew him too much and knew what the very subtle changes in his expression meant. He was annoyed and ignoring her comment; he was trying to lie to himself that he didn't like her.

"Meh." Was all he said as he looked back down at his enjoyable work.

"No meh!" She gave an exasperated sigh, and then added.

"What's wrong with being her friend? Is it such a crime?" She asked, curious to why he wanted to dislike this girl so much.

"It's not that, she's just obnoxious and I don't know… if I want a friend like that. She is a ninja and a part of this village and I won't be rude but I'd rather not be any closer than that." He spoke with his flat tone, expecting Trinity to believe that nonsense.

"I know you already accepted her as a friend… even though she is just _soooooo_ annoying." She laughed; emphasizing the end of her sentence with obvious sarcasm. He sighed, defeated. Trinity was right, even he wanted to push Kari away he couldn't unless she pushed first. She was interesting and deep down he wanted to be her friend. He wasn't sure why, it could be of her past, her attitude, or that she was intriguing.

"That was quicker than I thought… I guess you both had something that really connected you two that made it faster." She shrugged as he looked a bit aggravated.

"Yeah…" was all he said and then he remembered something.

"Oh, would you do me a favor?" He questioned suddenly.

"Anything, Kazekage-sama." She bowed to hide her grin.

"You know I… oh forget it, Kari wanted to go on a mission and I think I found one for her but I want some people to go with her… I was going to ask you and Kankuro." He said.

"Sure, when would it be?" she asked, coming out of the bow still slightly snickering from it.

"About 4-5 days from now… I got to find out when the village wants us to go and help..." he ignored her snickering as he started to organize the finished paperwork.

"Alright, sounds good." She answered, taking the paperwork from him to stick it in its proper place.

Gaara then glanced out the window, hating how Trinity was right but shrugging it off. Being friend with Kari wouldn't be the end of the world… it would be more trouble, yes. Although… not terrible… she could be of some use to him eventually. Besides, maybe he just liked that extra craziness in his life… it made life… more interesting.

'_She's an intriguing girl, indeed.'_ He thought to himself as Trinity but more work on his desk and he sighed glaring at it.

_~done~_

_Wow, this was done the middle of October… my editor is lazy!!!_

_JK, she had been busy. _

_I've been working on Chapter 10 so I hope to have it up in the next couple weeks. _

_Anyway, I hope you enjoyed… I had fun with writing some of the parts. _

_Especially the Trinity and Gaara Scene… XD_

_Hope to talk to you all soon! Thanks for the reviews, support and love from everyone; I really do try my best!_

_~Torie_


	11. Lies and The Attractive Ninja

Chapter 10

Lies and The Attractive Ninja 

A week had passed since Gaara gave her information about the mission. It was a B-ranked mission, to go and guard a highly wanted rich guy and take him from the sand village to the rock village or Iwa. He had somehow made it to Suna and originally was from a smaller non-ninja village. Many people were not pleased with his deals he had made and wanted him dead so he decided to pay for ninjas to protect him. Suna didn't care what his matters were, except that it was a job that paid.

Kari was scheduled to leave for the mission with Kankuro and Trinity in an hour or so. Oh the fun that would be, Kankuro seemed to be showing a slight interest in her. She was hoping, the more he saw her real side… he would just want to be friends.

As she packed her last thing in her traveling pack Kari used the rest of her spare time to relax and prepare for her mission mentally. As she sat on her couch and began to run over the details of the mission in her mind, her cell phone chimed, and buzzed across the table. She glanced at it to see a text from Trinity.

'_Hey, ready to go?' _it said.Kari's phone buttons clicked as she responded. Then she stood up and headed out the door but not before grabbing her small pack filled with her necessities and ninja gear.

She was going to meet them at the entrance, or in this case, exit to the village.

OOO

'_Yeah, Meeting by the entrance right?' _Kari had sent back; Trinity was re-reading it.

"You're re-reading it why…?" Someone asked. Gaara of course, she was in his office and about to head to the entrance (or exit) herself.

"Oh… It's just a habit." She shrugged. Trinity was looking through her phone deciding whether she was going to leave or not, it wasn't going to take long to get there.

"Is Kankuro meeting us there or … coming here?" Trinity asked him. He seemed to think for a second and opened his mouth to reply.

"I think he said-" He started, until…

"I'm here!" Kankuro had slung open the door and spoke loudly, and over Gaara. He was ready to go on this mission, well… until he saw Gaara's face.

There was a pause of silence in the room as Kankuro glanced a bit nervously at Gaara who was staring at him with a slight glare.

"Well, he's here." Gaara finally broke the silence with sarcasm; Trinity laughed nervously.

"Thanks" Kankuro muttered. Trinity spoke not a second after that to break the brother's beginning battle.

"Yes. Um anyway, we better get going." She said while running over a list of everything she had and needed in her head.

"Okay." Kankuro agreed as they both headed to the door after a quick nod from Gaara which was saying, 'Good luck, now go.'

"Why was Gaara looking at me like that?" was the first thing Kankuro asked as they headed down the street and to the entrance. It was a steady pace, because they weren't in too much of a hurry.

"Oh you just cut him off." Trinity answered, smiling slightly at Kankuro's expression. She thought of him as a good friend and thought he could be so funny. Trinity had known him since she was a kid, along with Gaara & Temari.

"Ah… I see." Kankuro answered calmly although in his eyes Trinity could see he was slightly concerned.

"He'll get over it." She mused. Then they swiftly walked through the village to their destination. As they began to clear the distance between them and the entrance Trinity noticed the man they were supposed to protect and Kari standing there waiting. Kari seemed to already have talked with the guy and now was staring off into the distance, while the guy looked around nervously. Trinity had supposed that he had done something wrong or illegal but that wasn't there mission.

"Ah, Nishimaru-san?" she questioned him, with his last name, although she knew it was him.

"You must be the other 2 ninja protecting me?" Nishimaru questioned, nodding politely to Trinity.

"Yes we are. Is everyone ready to go?" Trinity asked, everyone responded with a yes, so they left.

Heading toward the desert was quite tiresome for Nishimaru, he had already gone through it once and he wasn't a ninja so his tolerance level wasn't very high. After stopping for what seemed a hundred times they got out of the desert. Entering the Bird Country, Nishimaru immediately sat down on the ground.

"Grassland! Thank … gosh…." He was being a bit delusional.

"Are we going to stop again?" Kari stated, clearly annoyed since he was making this mission twice as long as it should have been.

"I agree with her. This is ridiculous." Kankuro grumbled, Nishimaru stared up evilly at them. Kari and Kankuro were unfazed.

"I'm sure he is only doing this because it necessary…" Trinity coaxed them, keeping her friendly smile.

"It is." Nishimaru mumbled as he drank the water he had brought with him.

Suddenly Kari looked up; glancing around where they were standing. Trinity was a bit puzzled at this; she couldn't feel anything out of the ordinary.

"Kari, what's wrong?" Trinity asked and as Kari looked back at her Trinity grew more confused; Kari was frowning slightly.

"Nothing exactly, I just feel like… something bad is going to happen." She spoke slowly but stared at Nishimaru. Because of him, something bad was going to happen and whatever it was that was after him that wasn't just a the ordinary ninja.

"Kari, you're being ridiculous." Kankuro commented, and then added.

"Besides, we **are** ninjas and generally bad things happen to us."

Trinity looked at all three of them, Kankuro was right but… she couldn't help forget what Kari had said, she felt it too, plus Kankuro was pretty dense.

They finally continued on their way and not much was said after that until they were almost to the earth Country. They were walking along a path, and noticed a group of people carrying building equipment.

Trinity noticed how they were moving a lot slower than her group, even though they had a normal villager with them. They obviously weren't ninjas. They even had a kid with them; he had that probably begged to tag along. Trinity's eyes laid upon the young boy as things around them started to change. Trinity jerked her head around, all her senses on. There was someone... no two people that were coming up behind them. Their swift movement categorized them as ninjas and judging by their speed, good ones. Kari and Kankuro had seemed to notice it too.

Though they seemed to come fast when Trinity first felt their chakra, when she and the others looked around they saw them gradually walking up to the village. Looking at them they looked familiar to Trinity, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Glancing over she saw Kankuro seemed to shrug it off, while Kari looked as puzzled as well. Then suddenly an alarmed look crossed Kari's face, but before Trinity could even open her mouth there was a crash as the hillside above them gave way abruptly. Trinity wasn't sure if Kari had been startled because she knew the ninjas or she saw what had happened. Somehow she still made it over to the group of civilians to save the kid from being smashed. No sooner had the rock fallen before it crumbled to the earth on impact only a few feet from where Kari and the child were now standing. The other civilians looked at the rubble a moment in utter disbelief before running over to the two of them.

"Oh!" Trinity gasped as she tried to suppress her shock of not noticing it since the strange cloaked ninjas had thrown her off, but she was sure that the rock had not fallen on its own, even the remains still simmered with chakra. She rushed over Kari and the civilians to make sure everyone was okay while Kankuro protected Nishimaru who was surprisingly silent.

"Very well done." Someone spoke with a smirk; the two unknown ninja had caught up, both of them male. The citizens dropped everything as the two drew closer; sensing the danger and heading back towards their village…. Quickly.

"Did you almost crush that kid?" Kari growled at the blonde haired boy…well, man that had spoken; he looked to be in his early 20's.

"Yeah, I wanted to see how you all would react to it." He shrugged casually; his sapphire eyes glancing over at the ninja with him. He was a bigger ninja who had an odd shape to him and was hidden well under his loose-fitting clothes.

"You could have hurt somebody." Trinity joined the conversation; obviously a bit annoyed with the blonde's attitude. This guy was obviously either stupid or bad news.

"Well you see, were here on-…" The blonde started but stopped because of how his partner stared directly at Kari.

"Do you know her …?" He asked, confused and a bit curious.

"I do, that's Orochimaru's daughter." The other spoke for the first time, in a deep grumbled voice.

"What?!" Kankuro exclaimed. Trinity was equally as stunned but a bit more quiet about it.

"I…I… you defiantly have the wrong person." Kari defended confidently.

"Heh. I don't forget people. Nor am I stupid enough to get people's identity wrong." He responded with no humor. It would have taken a moron to believe Kari over him.

"I see you haven't changed…" Kari mumbled, rolling her eyes.

"Interesting." The blonde one chimed in, clearly amused.

"Well it's nice to meet you, I'm Orochimaru's replacement." He added with his own spice of attitude and fake friendliness as he flashed a devious smile.

"Pleasure." Kari responded sarcastically.

"Deidara, were not here for that nonsense. We need to get it." The other ninja seemed to be getting impatient.

"Aw, come on. Now they know my name." Deidara pouted jokingly. But the other ninja seemed interested in someone again, this time not Kari. His eyes locked on Trinity.

"Hmmm? This chakra… aren't you the one that can release the seal?... What was it… Ro…. ?" Trinity eyes widened in fear and astonishment; that was from her private life.

"No! Uh….we'll be going… leaving you to your trip… and stuff to do…" She stumbled over her words stepping closer to Nishimaru and Kankuro.

Deidara and the other shinobi were silent for a second as if they were really considering leaving. Unfortunately this wasn't the case.

"Why? When what we are looking for lies in the possession of one of you…" Deidara smirked glancing at Nishimaru who was hiding behind Kankuro. Everyone looked at him.

"Heh…" Nishimaru was shaking and glancing around nervously.

"I… um, well…" he stuttered as he stayed trapped under the gaze of the other ninja.

"You stole a scroll of ours that has secret jutsu on it." Deidara stated dryly, his voice serious now.

"And you're going to give it back."

Nishimaru looked scared but didn't budge.

"Alright…" Deidara sighed and walked closer to Kari as his first victim, probably because she was the smallest and looked the most vulnerable. Kari took a step back, preparing herself to fight. Deidara smiled when he stopped in front of her, though this time in a more playful way. He raised his hand slowly and let his fingertips graze across her cheek slowly, barely even touching her. He looked into her eyes like he could see right through them and spoke sensually to her.

"Since your protecting him, you can just get him to give us the scroll and we'll be on our way okay?" towards the end of his sentence he gently pulled her face closer to his. His partner rolled his eyes at the scene.

"I um…" Kari blushed, starting to fall for it.

"No!" She shook her head stepping back, giving him a sour look.

Trinity knew that Kari would have agreed with her, this ninja was quite attractive. Probably the reason she had blushed even after she broke the genjutsu he had silently put on her. Kari was lucky to have caught it in time and for it to be weak enough for her to break so easily. Trying to use his looks with a little 'magic' wasn't going to get him what he wanted though.

"Well, I'm sorry we don't have more time to spend with you but we must be off." Deidara smirked with victory.

Kankuro's eyes widened when he realized what had happened. He thought he felt chakra near him…. But it had gone away.

"That guy… the other one… he's… a puppeteer and …" Kankuro stumbled through his explanation a little; still coming to terms with it himself.

"Yeah that was just a distraction." Deidara almost laughed as they went on their way; leaving as quickly and soundlessly as they had come.

"Damn it!" Nishimaru grumbled.

OOO

Time had passed by now, they had dropped off Nishimaru at Iwa and were on their way home. It was late so they decided to stop and sleep. Laying there Trinity remembered what the Deidara guy had said. She shot up.

"The Akatsuki…" She murmured, thinking everyone was asleep.

"Did you just realize who they were?" A voice spoke curiously through the dark. Kari of course, Kankuro was out like a light.

"Yes… I feel like an idiot for not realizing earlier." Trinity shook her head.

"Hm… so what was Sasori talking about?" Kari asked.

"The other guy's named Sasori?... and what do you mean?" Trinity wasn't sure what she was referring to.

"Yeah. And he said something about… releasing a seal? He knows you from somewhere." Kari responded; carefully wording her sentence.

"Um… well, you see… he probably just got me confused with someone… and wait! He said you were Orochimaru's daughter. What's up with that?" Trinity changed the subject.

"Yeah, I'm not proud of it. I don't really consider myself related to him anyway." Kari mumbled.

"But you lied. You said… you had adopted parents… and that…" Trinity was confused to why she had lied.

"Look, it's no big deal. I don't really want to talk about it… Goodnight." Trinity could hear Kari roll over, thus ending their little conversation.

"But you know Gaara is going to ask you… because even if I don't tell him, Kankuro will." Trinity sighed.

Trinity stayed awake for a bit longer and noticed Kari's breathing relaxing, as she fell asleep. She knew she needed to tell Gaara about what happened, but was still unsure about something

'I know so much about Kari… is it really fair for me to keep things about me a secret too?' She thought to herself. Trinity let the thought slip into the back of her mind as she fell asleep too.

OOO

The trip back to the Sand village wasn't short but wasn't too long, it mainly was boring. No one really had much to say. After 3-4 days they made it back and split up as they walked into the village. Kari & Kankuro headed home to unpack and shower while Trinity headed to the office to do the report. Trinity walked in to Gaara's office being… messy. Trinity sighed and glanced at Gaara who was stacking pencils.

"What are you doing?" She questioned him. They all fell down.

"Damn, I was about to break a record."He grumbled as he pushed them all into a drawer. He looked up at her; returning to his normal persona.

"Hey Trin… um I guess you just got back." He stated calmly.

"Yeah… jeez, you need another personal secretary while I'm gone." Trinity said, still concerned with the condition of the office. She reluctantly sat down.

"Uhh, yeah. So how was the mission…?" He asked in an attempt to get her off the topic.

"Well… it went really nice until…" Trinity paused.

"...Until?" Gaara questioned slowly.

"We were almost there and two akatsuki members almost crushed this kid which Kari saved, and one of them knew both me and Kari, they wanted a scroll from the guy we were protecting and they got it. It had secret jutsu in it. They were named Deidara and Sasori…" Trinity finished, unsure whether to say the Kari comment.

"Damn. At least you guys are okay. So did they just leave after they got the scroll?..." He was really curious on what was in the scroll.

"Yeah." She responded.

"Sasori… I know him…. Or have heard of him. I should look it up." Gaara contemplated out loud, when he looked back at Trinity he knew she left out something.

"Is there anything else…?" He asked suspiciously, reading her expressions like they were an open book to him.

"One thing… but… I just, I need to tell you. It's important, but I don't want to..." Trinity sighed.

"It's Kari." She finished.

"Again? What about her?" Gaara knew he wasn't going to like this, but he couldn't prepare himself for what she was really going to say.

"She's really, Orochimaru's daughter." She said, looking at him. There was a pause after that, it felt like years could have gone by. You would think Gaara was just mad but first he had to get over the shock. Kari had specifically said her parents had died and she had adoptive parents.

"Fuck." He growled, stood up and was gone.

OOO

Her skin was still warm from her soothing bath, her muscles were eased and her hair was damp. She had changed into clothes that were so comfortable that she had begun to drift off lying on the couch. It was then, when everything in her body instantly changed into a completely opposite mode. The aura coming upon her wasn't a happy one, and she knew exactly who it was.

"So soon?" She mumbled, rolling her eyes and biting her lips in frustration, and then she prepared for what was going to be a long lecture or yelling session.

_Yes! I leave you on a cliffhanger._

_Mwhahahaha!_

_I am evil. _

_But yes, this story seems to being along very well now, I hope you all are enjoying it. _

_Me and my editor work hard on writing it and editing it. _

_I'm soooo sorry for the long wait, I get lazy, I promise you won't have to wait as long for chapter 11._

_I have written a few pages to it already so I hope to have it done in the next couple weeks. _

_Thanks all! _

_-Torie_


	12. The Unexpected Turn Of Events

**Chapter 11**

**An Unexpected Turn of events **

Maybe if she pretended to be asleep he would just go away, she decided to give it a shot. She was tired anyway from the mission even though it was only mid-afternoon. She sighed rolling to her back when she felt chakra appear. His Chakra.

"Kari." A stern voice spoke. It was odd, he wasn't as mad as she thought he would be.

"I know you're not asleep." Kari could tell by his voice that he was more stressed and just irritated than angry.

"Yeah?" She asked bluntly. They both knew why he was there, and she just wanted to get it over with so she could sleep.

"I don't even care why… but I was serious before, and I still am. I need to know your true past. It's part of my job to help protect the village and keep it protected. If you're going to continue to lie, I'm not going to be able to trust you." He continued to keep his tone and didn't raise his voice.

"Gaara, why can't you just relax? Seriously… it's not a big deal." She knew what saying this would lead too and much as she wanted to just confess the truth her security blanket was thrown up. Which is her attitude and temper, it was more of a habit and it was hard for her to be honest about it.

'I don't know why it's always about me…' she grumbled inside her mind.

"Not a big deal?..." Gaara paused and after a long sigh he continued

"You are the most annoying, stressful girl ever! This is my job! It technically is a big deal if your Orochimaru's daughter! You could be plotting against our village or something!" His anger finally broke.

"This is exactly why I don't tell people this stuff! Just because I'm related to that asshole doesn't make me a criminal! And why is it always about me? You hide everything about your past and Trinity even hides things that seem to be pretty damn important!" She screamed at him, her anger going as well.

"Well it's none of your damn business about me or her! We have a lot of things we would rather not tell you, okay?" He said with spite in his voice. Although a few seconds later he regretted it because it was a little much.

"Well then fuck you! I don't want anything to do with you if you want to go through my business and you block out your own." She yelled, trying to control herself before she did something rash; it probably wouldn't help her situation.

"Fine do what you want! I don't ca-" Gaara started. He couldn't finish. Suddenly his head jerked back and his right cheek began to throb. Kari had punched him and was gone. He stood there speechless, unsure of what had happened. She had used her taijutsu to somehow quickly get to him and throw a punch, avoiding his usually seamless defense. It reminded him of the time he fought Lee, she really had some speed that he never noticed before.

He hadn't really realized a few minutes had passed until Trinity was in front of him dabbing his bruised cheek with some type of ointment to bring down the swelling.

"Gaara… I think that was a little much." She looked concerned and a bit sad.

"I... guess…" He knew she was right but didn't want to agree.

"How did you know…?" He started but realized that was a stupid question since he had stormed away from the office to come here; knowing Trinity, she probably followed incase something went wrong. He was defiantly still kind of surprised and dazed from the punch.

"Well, I heard it all in the hallway too…" She responded, unsure what else to say.

OOO

Gaara was sitting in his office, staring in to space. He didn't know why some stupid argument with a girl was bugging him so much, but it was. A few hours had passed and he knew Trinity was going to tell him to go apologize. But hell if he wanted to apologize, he just wanted to get all the facts of her past. That didn't seem like too much to ask for, he was just doing his job anyway….right?

The pencil he was balancing on his nose suddenly fell, why was he so interested in her? It kind of was pretty odd, he almost seemed interested in her but in a different way…

"Gaara! Hello!" Trinity finally yelled. She had been trying to get his attention for a minute or so.

"Huh?" He responded.

"I guess you didn't hear me. You should apologize." She spoke firmly.

"I should apologize? She punched me! She should be the one saying sorry!" He grumbled.

"Gaara… She's going to leave." Trinity sighed.

"What?" Gaara was confused.

"She sent in her letter to go on a vacation. She said she'd be back in a few weeks…" Trinity said.

"It's not like you care or anything." She added when he didn't say anything.

"She needs to get that approved by me…" Gaara retorted, looking a bit annoyed.

"She got it approved by some elders with just as much power as you." Trinity answered. She rolled her eyes, he was just yelling at her 10 minutes ago and now was irritated about her getting approved to leave when it was his fault in the first place.

"Why is she suddenly going on vacation anyway, aren't you supposed to plan more for this anyway?" He actually started working on paperwork; to try to get rid of his anger. But it actually seemed to make it worse.

"Gaara stop, your making holes in the papers." Trinity was actually getting concerned; he seemed more upset than how he would usually be if it was a fight between Temari or something. And then it hit her. It was so ludicrous…but it made sense. it had to be true and if it wasn't… she would make it true.

"Gaara… I know you're not angry." She smiled lightly, not because of the situation but because of what was going through her head.

"I'm not?" He seemed confused.

"Go get her and just get the apology over with, please…" She practically begged and he sighed.

"Fine. I'll go, but I'm blaming you if it turns out bad." He was gone.

Trinity had decided her new mission, a tricky but fun and amusing task; To get Gaara and Kari together.

OOO

Kari was pretty calm now that she had some time to think things over, but she still was irritated with Gaara. She understood the lying part and why he needed to know everything but… she still wanted to know about him and Trinity. She felt it was unfair that she had to practically write a biography of herself while she knew nothing about them.

She remembered what Sasori had mentioned, that Trinity was the one that could released the seal.

'A seal… but to what exactly?' she questioned to herself.

This was why she needed to leave, she figured of going to a small village she had lived in for about a month before she went to the sand village. It was so small that they probably would remember her. Besides it was just to clear her mind, she figured of going just for a week and had it approved about an hour before the current time.

Grabbing a small pack filled with the general everyday items she would need, she got up and headed out the door to leave the village.

OOO

Gaara appeared at Kari's apartment, it was empty. He frowned, had she left already? After checking the bar she works at, Trinity's house and a few other various places he finally headed toward the exit point of the village.

"Did Kari Hibaki already leave?" He questioned one of the guards, they nodded and he sighed. Walking outside the village he noticed a sand storm starting to hit the area, which was lucky for him. Since he used sand jutsu he could easily find his way through it but Kari would have to stop and wait or find a shelter from it. Even better, if he could find her chakra, he could just find her and bring her back. He closed his eyes and focused on everything around him. She wasn't hiding her chakra at all and wasn't really too far from the village.

Gaara moved quickly through the slowly growing sandstorm, even if it was helpful it would be bad if they got caught in it. He tracked her chakra to a cave just a few miles outside the village. Suddenly he was hesitating, why did he want to go get her anyway? Trinity told him to apologize but that didn't mean to go find her in the damn desert. Then he realized that it must be because she didn't ask him for permission to leave… but why did that matter either? She asked some elders that had power and they gave her reasonable permission. Frowning he considered going back to the village but he figured Kari already knew he was there so he might as well get her. Yeah… he might as well, he was already out here.

Right away entering the cave he got a bad feeling, the cave was weak. He could feel it throughout the structure, but obviously Kari wouldn't have known since she didn't use earth in her jutsus. As he walked closer to her he couldn't see Kari but he felt her walking towards him. Her footsteps made soft vibrations on the hard floor of the cave.

"Here to harass me again?" She asked dryly obviously still ticked off.

"No… no, but I really think-" He started but she cut him off.

"Do you really think I want to talk to you without an apology?" She growled.

"Oh well, uh sorry, but this is important-" She cut him off again.

"What kind of apology was that? Seriously… you really pissed me off." She wouldn't stop talking, and now currently had walked past him and towards the entrance of the sand cave but not before throwing a rock against the wall to relieve her irritation.

"Yes- but Kari!-" But it was too late, Kari hadn't kept her voice down and throwing the rock hadn't helped. The rock above them quivered as Kari's voice and the impact of the rock she threw echoed down into the depths of the caver. The cave entrance was suddenly being filled with boulders along with the spears falling that began to rain down from the ceiling.

It had happened so fast that Gaara reflexively grabbed Kari as his defense system surrounded them with a sand barrier to protect them from the falling earth. He hugged her close to him as the weak cave fell around them and slammed against the sand shield. After a few minutes the sand dissipated, sensing that the danger was cleared. Rock piled around them and unfortunately completely filled the entrance to the cave.

"I was trying to warn you…" He mumbled.

"I um…" She was speechless and kind of awkward at the fact of being so close to Gaara, it was more like it made her nervous.

"Well I'm just going sand teleport us out of here." He stated, giving her a general warning but she instantly stepped away from him tripping over a rock and stumbling backwards but keeping her balance.

"No way… I'm not going to just… sand teleport… that's just…weird." She frowned and he rolled his eyes although she couldn't see it through the darkness that surrounded them.

"Well we can't move the boulders because the ceiling could just cave in, so do you have a better idea?" He questioned her, crossing his arms.

"I… no." She replied and he sighed.

"If I apologize will you just come here so we can leave?" Gaara asked growing impatient, she didn't reply so he just continued by stepping towards her and grabbing her shoulders so he knew she was facing him.

"I'm sorry I got mad, but you can't keep lying." He spoke in a forgiving tone, although he disliked doing so. Kari moved slightly, a fire jutsu flickering from just her fingertip giving them light and making her able to see his face. Even in the dim light she could see the sincerity clearly in his eyes. His gaze was locked on her, like he could see deeply into her soul, and Kari noticed something odd, her heart had begun to beat faster. She let the fire go out.

He let go of her shoulders, why did he feel so uncomfortable all of a sudden? When she had used a little fire jutsu so they could see each other it was odd; Staring into her eyes he felt vulnerable, he was looking at her as a girl… not just a kunoichi. Being a guy he obviously was attracted to girls, but he had never really thought of Kari like that; Or had he? I mean, since he had gotten to know her and became friends with her he had always been interested in her… but wasn't that just business?

"Um, so yeah. I'm going to get us out of her now then." He spoke, breaking the awkward silence. Sand lifted up around them, pulling the two a little closer as it began to spin around tightly.

Teleporting with Gaara felt weird to Kari, like her insides were turned around in a few circles and then inside out. For a moment she felt like she was no longer connected to her body and then in another second she was standing again in front of the village entrance. Well…standing for a second; Kari's legs wobbled beneath her and she had to quickly grab Gaara's shoulder to avoid falling over completely.

"Trin is probably worried… we should get to the office." Gaara reminded, easily supporting her as she tried to readjust herself to the change. Kari nodded in agreement as he helped her walk back into the village.

OOO

Trinity had now walked into the office for the fifth time, where was Gaara? What had happened to him going to apologize? Which reminded her... where was Kari?

"Looking for someone?" A familiar voice spoke, it came from Gaara's chair that was now oddly turned away towards the window. The chair swiveled around dramatically to reveal Kankuro, doing his best impression of his brother.

"Oh it's just you… I thought you were Gaara for a second; great impression of him." She laughed; he actually did somehow manage to bring his tone to sound exactly like Gaara's and the over exaggerated stoic look only added to it.

"Why are you sitting there anyway?" She shook her head, still amused by him.

"I was looking for you, because someone told me that you were looking for Gaara. I figured this would be the best place to look." He shrugged standing up, his normal, casual tone and smile coming back effortlessly.

"Oh I see, where did he go?" She questioned him.

"Well Kari had already left so he went to go get her. A guard told me." He answered, Trinity grinned at that, maybe Gaara was finally falling for someone.

"That's good… he needs to find himself a girlfriend anyway." She nodded, halfway talking to herself.

"Hm, does he like her?" Kankuro looked confused.

"Oh that's right!... weren't you … crushing on Kari sort of?" Trinity stumbled. She almost felt bad about bringing it up now.

"Damn… I must have been an awesome actor." Kankuro smirked as he brushed back his hair with his hand and tried to look cool. Trinity face palmed.

"Don't get too cocky… so you were just faking it?" For some reason that seemed to settle right in Trinity's mind, probably because that meant there wasn't two brothers fighting over one girl.

"Well, she is pretty cute. And I will admit at first I kind of did…but, not after the mission… I like nicer girls. She has a fierce attitude and a crazy temper. I also wanted to see what all the fuss was about her." He spoke truthfully.

"I see… well that's pretty sly of you Kankuro. Now I'm starting to see the part where you and Gaara are actually brothers." She laughed while he just sort of glared at her.

"You defiantly need to work on you glare though, go get some lessons from Gaara." She added playfully as he sighed.

"Like you could do any better…" He grumbled and she snorted. About to reply the door swung open and there stood Kari and Gaara. They looked relaxed, like they resolved they're problems which Trinity was happy about.

"I heard you were looking for me?" Gaara asked, like nothing had happened but Trinity was paying attention to Kari, she was rubbing her eyes and brushing her fingers through her long black locks of hair.

"Uhh yeah… I guess you guys got caught in the sandstorm?" Trinity said; noting to the fact that Kari was dusting sand out of her hair.

"Unfortunately." Kari grumbled.

"My office is not a washroom-" he started with his normal attitude and persona, but for some reason it died down a little towards the end. He figured that he just wanted to keep the drama away.

"-do that at your house." He finished.

"Gaara; you're the one who told me to come here." She turned to him, looking up at him a bit annoyed at what he said.

"Right…" He mumbled, No one but Trinity and possibly Kankuro seemed to notice it but Gaara never seemed to falter with his attitude, nor did he ever not have a comeback. Kankuro figured that he was downright tired of Kari but Trinity had other hopes and plans.

"So what were you guys _doing_?" Trinity asked smoothly, agitating the situation only slightly, she wasn't stupid but this simple teasing could start a fire… that could lead to more interesting things.

"What do you mean?" Kari asked, with a slightly startled expression but mostly just confused.

"Well… I mean, You both were alone… outside the village for a while." Trinity smiled innocently and kind of shrugged.

"Trinity, what are you up too?" Gaara had already started to read her but also had already fell into her little trap. It was getting to him as well, but to Kari a little bit worse.

"Oh no way, not like that. Not happening, ever." Kari put her hands up, defending herself but what Kari didn't seem to notice is Gaara staring at her.

"Are you sure you're not just trying to cover it up? Hm?" Trinity laughed, making her statement very believable that she actually thought things happened between them.

"Trinity, Stop this. You know I'm… and her…and" Gaara was lost for words, this was a first.

"What about me?" Kari frowned; crossing her arms.

"Well, you're not really a dating kind of girl… nor someone I go for." He shrugged; avoiding eye contact.

"I think you're both lying to each other." Trinity spoke in a sweet sing-song voice.

"Not helping…" Gaara mumbled; while Kari bit her lip in with slight annoyance but yet going through her thoughts.

"So are you sure nothing happened between you too?" Trinity asked her final question.

"YES!" They both spoke at the same time; and met eyes kind of surprised.

"Yes there is? Or yes nothing happened." She teased them again and they both just stared at her; both irritated but thinking of exactly what Trinity wanted them to be thinking about, each other.

"I'm leaving, bye Trinity." Kari seemed to want to get out of there pretty quickly and she did. Even forgetting to say goodbye to Kankuro and just not saying anything to Gaara yet… she had too much about him on her mind already because of Trinity and that 3 second moment in the cave.

"What was that about?" Gaara questioned her dryly.

"What ever do you mean?" Trinity batted her innocent eyes and smiled and Gaara just went to sit down.

Trinity was pleased with herself, it seemed that they possibly could have a thing for each other and she just planted a seed to keep them thinking about it; she hoped this plan would work. She even seemed to notice and strange tension between them even before she began to interrogate so hopefully… things had already started to form between them.

_This was a lot later then I hoped. __L_

_I finished this in april…. But my friend never finished editing it till yesterday._

_Jeez. Hope to have the next one in the next couple weeks. _

_I really likes this chapter and writing it._

_Hope you liked it too._

_-Torie_


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